Like a testosterone-addled teen ager, we forgot our own 18th birthday on December 18. It’s been a busy year!
So Alice Cooper is here to celebrate that and the New Year with us. And we thought we should thank all of you readers, commentors, link-senders, and donors who have made our longevity in independent site-years possible.
This site started in 2006, when the econoblogosphere was not just a vibrant but also an important place, where finance practitioners, economists, and journalists were trying to understand what was happening in the opaque credit markets and whether and how much it threatened the financial system. Figures like Nouriel Roubini, Simon Johnson, Tanta, Richard Kwak, Barry Ritholtz, Felix Salmon, Paul Krugman, Chris Whalen, and Steve Waldman held forth and regularly critiqued each other’s findings. Lambert contends that the independent media-sphere has gone though a cycle. Interest seemed to move away from text output to podcasts and YouTube. But we seem to be in a revival of interest in written commentary, perhaps due to the continued erosion of and increasingly obvious elite-fealty of the mainstream press, as witness by the proliferation of Substackers, many of whom attract decent-sized audiences if they keep putting out high-quality work. But I wish this blog revival generated more discussions across sites as we had in 2006 to 2008. The open questions are as numerous as then and if anything more pressing.
There are so many who helped us over the years, such as Mark Thoma, who gave us encouragement and promoted our early posts, to Richard Smith and Andrew Dittmer, who were absolutely indispensable in helping edit our book and continued as valuable contributors. And we have had many our other esteemed site writers, such as Matt Stoller, Philip Pilkington, Ed Harrison, Marshall Auerback, Rob Parenteau, and more recently, Michael Hudson and IM Doc, and of course our regulars: Lambert, Dave Dayen, Jerri-Lynn, Nick, Conor, and KLG, backed by our comments wranglers, first Jules and now Katiebird and Semperloquitur, and our tech maven Dave.
We could go on about all the things we’ve done over these many years with all of your help and input, but perhaps you’d rather kick back and enjoy the show.
Wishing you a healthy and happy 2025! Hope you have fun ringing in the New Year!
Great, I can finally buy drinks for the site! Happy Birthday!!
Only outside the U.S. NC can finally vote and go to war, though. Nonetheless, happy site birthday and glad to have been here almost daily for the great majority of those years. Not sure what I’d do for news and sanity without Naked Capitalism.
And get married tho technically illegal to drink at your wedding in the US. Happy Birthday NC!
Can be charged as an adult for possession of alcohol by a minor!
You should know better that you don’t know any better….(il)logic doom loop…
Well, some states have ‘family exceptions’ to the 21 legal drinking age. Since we’re all family here, tip one (or two) for this birthday!
Auguroni.
I wonder if one of the reasons for the recent revival that you refer to is simply that people want to have a decent discussion of public policy, a good & reliable look at history, and an assessment of where U.S. culture is going that isn’t just a bunch of “theory,” diatribes, and tantrums.
Here in the Undisclosed Region, there is a tendency toward the cerebral, which means that discussion is more “traditional.” Amusingly, this tendency among the Piedmontese also means that they aren’t the stereotype of Excitable Italians in Sleeveless T-Shirts. I tease my Piedmontese friends that they are much too rational.
Yet this tendency to discuss means that I have some vague expectations that Italians can collectively find a way through the current historical and economic disaster.
Americans seem much more worried about having entered a dead end. Hence, the revival of interest in talking things over (???).
Eighteen years is a very long time on the internet. I think back to that year to see how the internet was for myself. Was using Windows XP and most of the programs I used then have gone by the wayside except for ones like IrfanView and Win32pad. Did some digging to see what sites I was visiting when Naked Capitalism was first launched and more than a few of them no longer exist. They are just g-o-n-e gone like they never were. So it is a source of comfort to see NC go from strength to strength and evolve over time. Maybe more so in an era when sites like this are going dark under the heavy hand of those who would seek to silence dissident speech – or as it used to be called, free speech. So best of belated birthday wishes for NC and hopes of many more to come.
Crazy (Gnarls Barkley – 2006)
I just knew too much, hm
Does that make me crazy?
That was 18 years ago? It seems like yesterday!
Same wishes for the NC team and everyone visiting and commenting in the site. I hope Aurelien gets it right in his latest and we start to see light at the end of some of the tunnels we are in.
Best site on the web– my go-to every morning!
Many thanks and good wishes!
Agreed, I owe what sanity I retain to all concerned…
Happy belated bday NC
Agreed times two! Every morning and later at the Water Cooler. Happy New Year everyone. We’ve learned so much via links, articles, comments, staff and the commentariate in general.
Same here!
NC and its commentariat have been and continue to be deeply instrumental in shaping my understanding of the world.
Thanks to all involved, and I’m wishing NC and its community many more years.
Happy belated birthday!
Happy Birthday, how about that. Congratulations are in order, surviving the blog-o-sphere for eighteen years is no mean feat. Thank you all.
Congrats and happy birthday. You have been and remain an essential read.
Happy 18!
With the institutional memory that the site has, the upcoming “Financial Crisis” should be understandable, and navigable. Despite all the personnel changes and evolution, it is still recognizably ‘Naked Capitalism.’ That is a testament to the strengths and courage of the NC Collective.
Next up is finding a properly neutral host site for when the “American Closing of the Mind” officially kicks off.
The American Empire is running true to form. When it shows obvious signs of decay, it will clamp down on dissent in a draconian manner.
I’m up for the Naked Capitalism Samizdat.
Stay safe (TM.)
Congratulations! Your excellent work may not be fabulously remunerative, but it’s broadly appreciated. Naked Capitalism is ranked in the top 100 news sites, but always the #1 source for me. Happy New Year, and here’s to many more!!
I started reading in 2009. Bought “Econned” and had my eyes opened. Ever since, it’s the first thing I read in the morning while I’m making coffee. Huge thanks to Yves and her crew and the Commentariat. This blog really is an island of sanity in a world run by and for billionaire crackpots.
Still my favorite Alice Cooper song! Too bad he’s a libertarian lol.
Congratulations on your milestone. I think I’ve visited this site at least once a day for about 12 years or so. First when Obama was running for re-election and I was very peeed off about what a fraud he’d been.
Best wishes for the next eighteen.
the best site on the “inner tubes” and a refuge for iconoclasts and critical thinkers
happy birthday and keep NC weird
I LIKE. IT!!!
Congratulations to all the NC people, and especially to Yves. I am in constant awe of your output, both quantity and quality. If the site had been a baby, it would be ready to launch itself on the world at this age and you all could relax back into a well-deserved retirement. But no ….. the world of finance and economics and science and politics is just getting really “interesting.”
Congratulations! NC has been the best overall news site for me for the last 18 years.
Thank you for everything you all do.
Well done NC! Happy belated 18th.
I wish I could remember when I first started reading here and how I found it. But I don’t. I know I was here for the 2016 election year and I’m pretty sure I was for the 2015 golden escalator descent. So at least that long.
Happy birthday! So glad that you all exist and continue putting out the excellent analysis I and others have come to rely on.
I miss our occasional get-togethers for drinks. Covid ended that — and then the geographic dispersal of Yves.
But I see that the active participation of our readers from all over has picked up the slack and created a wonderful group consciousness and sense of togetherness.
One of my favorite memories (since turning 18 MANY years ago ;^\ ) was attending one of the last NYC meet-ups at some Lower East Side watering hole. I had just gotten my pint and was sizing up the gaggle around Yves at a largish table in back when this chap next to me sticks out his paw and says, “Hi! I’m Mike. What brings you to Naked Capitalism?” (It was a couple of months before I saw a photo and realized it was YOU) Anyway, I explained that I had become hooked on the Oil Drum blog during the months-long BP/Macondo well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and in the interest of ‘following the money’ I was soon enough hooked on NC with the amazing cast of characters who were likewise attracted. You encouraged me to wade right in – Yves is “quite approachable and enjoys meeting newbies”. So I did – and got to shake her hand saying, “Madam, I’m Adam.” (Mom’s favorite palindrome) A magical, idyllic evening that was over way too soon- I had to tear myself away to catch the last Amtrak home. Anyway, a happy, happy birthday to NC and those who breathe life into it every day!! It’s some kind of perverse law of physics (or sumthin) that birthdays go by faster and faster- one of the (very) few trade-offs I’ve found is at the same time, the world gets incrementally smaller. Sooo……. howzabout a “Meet-up Tour”? “Global pub crawl”?
I’m still kicking myself for missing the meeting in Seattle several years ago!
A very happy birthday. I first came across NC sometime during Obama’s misrule. First heard about Ian Welsh and John Michael Greer, and many others, here on NC. Been a daily reader ever since.
I went back into the archives and found the first post, on 12/18/2006, was “Fools and their money (hedge fund edition)” and the next “The Wall Street Journal Defends the Superrich”. Lol – plus ça change . . .
A happy and healthy 2025 to all
Time flies when you’re having fun? Thanks for staying the course. As Variety would say, NC has “legs.”
Many thanks for 18 years of supremely important information and commentary!
Michael Hudson is a God that Walks the Planet!!! I am so glad that I found him on this site!!
Congratulations everybody for making this site so interesting!!!
Thank you Yves and Lambert!!!!
Happy Birthday!
and many thanks to Yves and all for so much help to stay sane during these insane times.
Stay alive!
Happy birthday dear NC,
And a very happy new year to everyone involved (not forgetting BTLers).
P
Happy Birthday!! Hard to believe that Yves and Lambert have consistently sustained their prodigious output during three decades — the aughties, the teens, and the twenties! I’ve read NC daily since ‘08 or so. I’ve made actual friends with people whom I’ve met here. It is the only way to cut through the bullsh*t cacophony of our grossly over-populated and resource-constrained world.
I am truly grateful. Happy New Year to all. May you each find peace and prosperity in these times of neither.
Happy birthday to you NC…
Thanks for being there!
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year to all the contributors to NC!
I believe I’ve been reading this site for around 14 years. I can’t recall how I first found this place, but after the 2008 crash I realized I needed to “follow the money” to understand what was going on.
They grow up so fast.
In three years NC will be able to legally buy a beer. Probably via Calculated Risk, I found NC shortly after it opened for business.
Happy birthday NC!
Alice has various songs which capture the current times well. Consider “Elected”:
I’m a top prime cut o’ meat
I’m your choice
I wanna be elected.
I’m Yankee Doodle Dandy
In a gold rolls royce
I wanna be elected.
The kids want a saviour
And don’t need a fake
I wanna be elected.
You’re all gonna rock
To the rules that I make
I wanna be elected.
Here’s to the demise of the rock’n’rules based order on 2025!
Happy birthday! Onward to the next 18 years. (That’s if we are spared World War III before then.)
Happy Birthday to NC! I only discovered it in 2016, but NC has become my go-to source for news and analysis of world events and economics – the first thing I read every day over breakfast! As others have said, NC is an island of sanity in our cray-cray world! A big hug to all those who make NC a success!
I am an infrequent contributor and commenter, but I can only echo what so many have posted before me: that Naked Capitalism opened my eyes, has become broadly appreciated, is essential am and pm reading, a trusted go-to island of sanity in a world of billionaire crackpots, the best site on the inner tubes, the best overall news site, provides analysis to be relied upon, is important information and commentary, helps us maintain sanity in this crazy world, and cuts thru the bs cacophony. Thank you to all at Naked Capitalism.
Happy 18th Naked Capitalism! Yves, Lambert, Connor, Jeri, and all past/present wonderful contributors that my addled old-man brain cannot recall….you have really been helpful in not getting lost in all the propaganda and outright deceit out there. Thank you!
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year NC.
I have only been reading this site for a year or so but now I cannot think what I would do without it.
Nothing else compares. Thank you all.
Most awesome day ever, the 18th of Dec. happens to be the day my granddaughter was born. Double fun.
Thanks to this site and all the commenters for the wonderful daily education in all matters provided.
18 of the best years as the indispensable source of news and analyses!