If you don’t need to be persuaded to give but just haven’t done so yet, please go right to our fundraiser page to chip in!
Thanks to your backing, we’ve hit our first six targets: essential IT, supporting the comments section, funding the Coffee Break/Sunday links features, bonuses to our esteemed writers, continuing expanded Links, and preventing burnout.
But we are not where we should be! We are still behind where we need to have enough cash in the till for the upcoming year. So please head to the Tip Jar to do your part.
Our seventh goal is funding for more original reporting. It may seem weird to have this as our final goal. Shouldn’t we have asked sooner?
In fact, all the the previous targets are essential to keep the site going. For instance, rewarding our regular writers isn’t just to recognize their dedication; it also helps in bringing accomplished writers on board, as you can see with Haig, Nat, and Curro.
Readers have told us that one thing they particularly value about Naked Capitalism is its incisive coverage of financial, economic, and increasingly geopolitical news, and the power dynamics that drive them.
In addition, much of the work of this able team already includes substantial elements of original reporting. Haig’s Armed Madhouse regularly relies on official data and many public sources. Conor, Nick, and Curro often cite speeches and policy documents. KLG often analyzes studies on new drugs and other medical developments. Nat puts on his yellow waders to (among other things) read official pronouncements of major party organizations. Yours truly enjoys analyzing court cases.
Even though all of the wonderful reader responses have averted worst-case outcomes, we are still in catch-up mode donation-wise. So please help out if you haven’t yet! The Tip Jar beckons. We have been particularly humbled this year by the number of readers who have given donations in the $5 to $30 range and lamented it could not be more because they are fixed income. On the other end of the spectrum, Nancy T, who funded the second Double Your Donation challenge, just stepped up with another sizable contribution.
In the, erm, energetic discussion over the last few days about our Iran War posts and the variable quality of comments, many many of you said how indispensable Naked Capitalism has become to you. We love praise! But sadly we also need funds to pay our bills! So please proceed to the Tip Jar and dig deep!
Some kind words from readers, here from Lena:
Thank you to Yves and all the writers at NC for their hard work. You manage to keep going in spite of everything. Please know it is appreciated.
And from Chris C:
I am a person with just somewhat-above-average intelligence who is in awe of your superior, beautiful mind. But more than that I am grateful that you have such a strong value system of honesty and caring. You work incredibly long hours to bring your insightful analyses to others like me, who in turn, can use the information you provide to do our small piece to make the world a better place—Lord knows, it needs every bit of help it can get right now.
I am in the sunset years of my life and if there is one thing—a rather sad thing—I have learned is that there is a lot more evil in the world than I ever imagined.
To combat that evil the ordinary person needs to understand what is really going on in finance and government, what the truth is, not the bullsh*t. Your honest, informed writing is a huge gift to people like me who don’t have the educated background, the mental horsepower, nor the time to research such topics ourselves. Please try to remember that in your moments of discouragement.
Thank you, Yves, for using your gifts for good. You are a gem.
[Yves blushes modestly]
And Henry Moon Pie:
Henry Moon Pie
The essential thing about being an NC reader is that you won’t get blindsided, even in this very unpredictable age. The site’s leadership has always been like a skilled scout, going out in advance to find what lies ahead, good and bad. Sometimes, this means that the scout comes back with news we’d rather not hear, but that’s why you can’t help but keep in contact with reality if you read NC.
And Jon C:
I couldn’t do without my daily visit to NC’s links, or your excellent articles and commentary… a light in the information wilderness.
I’m doing my best to make a small difference through the nonprofit world here in Camden, NJ, although nonprofits themselves are deeply intertwined with the rot and corruption of the city. NC has broadened my understanding and given context to the forces that lead to hollowed out and exploited corners of the world like Camden, which in many ways serves as a frightening example of where large parts of the country seem to be headed. My daily interaction with your site makes me feel a little less alone in the madness.
One of the reasons we’ve been able to punch above our weight is the considerable and extremely high quality input we get from this community.
But as much as this site makes an important contribution via analyzing and adding expert insights to news stories, our greatest impact has come via original reporting. You’d be hard-pressed to find a site that has forced as many officials we forced from their posts, starting with the SEC’s Andrew Bowden for seeking a job for his son from the very people he regulates.
We also forced an industry-wide change in private equity by shaming CalPERS into disclosing how much it was paying via one of its biggest fees, the so-called carry fee. Hubert Horan’s Uber series has led to reporters finally questioning the ride-sharing company’s fundamentals. Lambert’s relentless Covid reporting was early to focus on *Covid is airborne* and encourage member of the community to practice layered defenses, which some have said they feel saved lives.
Conor has dug into new topics, such as fractures in Europe due to Ukrainization and rising authoritarianism, as demonstrated by the debanking and now shuttering of Autistici/Inventati. Nick had been relentless on the war on cash and more recently, on Trump’s too-often-successful meddling in Latin American politics (despite the economic implosion of Argentina) and FIFA. KLG has been chronicling important medical advances (including challenging vaporware) and the impact of Trump’s wrecking ball on science practice. Curro filed a report from BRICS 2025. Haig has peered into the corner of military weaponry, grift, and chicanery. Nat (along with Conor and Nick) has looked at the influence scheme of tech billionaires, and on top of that, new political alliances, among other things due to genocide fractures.
We’d like to do more reporting, but we’ve discovered why journalists take umbrage at bloggers: An originally-reported story takes roughly four to ten times the effort of a blog post of commentary and analysis. Consider this example that we published earlieer an example from the Columbia Journalism Review :
In this economic environment, greenlighting time-consuming, in-depth reports that may get less traffic than lighter-fare articles has become increasingly rare. A recent report by Mother Jones in which a senior reporter worked four months as a corrections officer exemplifies this tension. The massive 35,000-word report exposed corruption in private prisons but conservatively cost $350,000 to produce and only brought in $5,000 in banner ads.
Now we admittedly have a leg up in that Naked Capitalism readers savor meatier content. But even so, original reporting doesn’t just take much more gumshoe work than analysis of news. It also involves pursuing leads that often don’t pan out. And it also can require meaningful hard dollar expenses, such as paying lawyers to pursue FOIAs.
So that is a long winded way of saying that original reporting is costly but more and more important as the mainstream media is both running into budget constraints and becoming less intrepid generally.
Again, our target for original reporting is $45,000. We are already $970 towards that goal.
So those of you who have contributed already, thanks again for your generous support, and we look forward to those NC fans who have just found out about the fundraiser to help make the site more successful.
There are multiple ways to give. The first is here on the blog, the Tip Jar, which takes you to PayPa and our new payment service Clover. There you can use a debit card, a credit card or a PayPal funds (at PayPal, the charge will be in the name of Aurora Advisors).
You can also send a check (we like checks! no processor fees!) in the name of Aurora Advisors Incorporated to
Aurora Advisors Incorporated
PO Box 110105
Brooklyn NY 11211-0105
Please also send an e-mail to yves@nakedcapitalism.com with the headline “Check is in the mail” (and just the $ en route in the message) to have your contribution included in the total number of donations.
Donate now to Naked Capitalism, whether it’s $5, $50, or $5000. If you can’t afford much, give what you can. If you can afford more, give more. If you can give a lot, give a lot. It will pay for itself, I guarantee you. This isn’t just giving, it’s a statement that you are want a different debate, a different society, and a different culture. As one reader wrote, “A small investment in our future, together.”
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