By Matt Stoller, the research director of the American Economic Liberties Project
I’m a former writer for Naked Capitalism, and a loyal reader. A few days ago, the oligarch family of the Ellison’s managed to finally acquire Warner Discovery, the prize possession of media assets they’ve been seeking for the past year. It’s a pretty brutal and sad turn of events, but it’s also bracing.
And one thing that made me feel better was reading this piece in Naked Capitalism, on the long tradition of rebellion from Medieval peasants when stripped of their rights by bishops, nobles, kings, popes, or guilds. It’s always nice to see how people in very different and much more powerless circumstances nonetheless said ‘fuck off’ to their oligarchs.
And that is, I think, the common thread of Naked Capitalism for the past couple of decades. Yeah, it is as bad as you think behind closed doors, but also, we have more power than we think to annoy those insiders. To do that, to really frustrate the bad guys, however, we have to know what’s going on. And that’s why this writing matters, because it’s tracing the details few others do. So head to the Tip Jar to help show the boss class that the peons are taking notice.
I’ve always appreciated the persistent and well-deserved contempt on this site for CalPERS, the California pension fund managers whose self-dealing and fecklessness is as corrupt as it is unnoticed. I enjoy learning about CEO Marcie Frost’s $1.15 million bonus and passed it to my California contacts. Will they do anything? Probably not. California Democrats are to corruption like dogshit and darkness is to mushrooms. But when it all collapses, in the AI bubble or private equity orgy of Ponzi-nomics you have been chronicling, at least we’ll have a record of who is to blame.
I’ve changed my views slightly in the last year. Here’s what I wrote in 2025 about the project you guys are engaged in.
And this brings me back to the importance of Naked Capitalism. The thing about politics is that in order to have an impact, you have to know what’s going on. And one reason, and I know you know this, that Team Democrat has no impact is because they don’t know what’s going on. They don’t read Naked Capitalism. If they did, perhaps the world wouldn’t be on fire.
I no longer quite believe this, or at least, I’d make an addendum. The ideological problem that we have in America, and worldwide as you’ve described, is that indifference to the real world is an actual position that most elites take. The reason they don’t read Naked Capitalism isn’t because they don’t know about it, it’s because they are courtiers who see no point in anything that doesn’t help them gain the king’s favor. It is similar to the bishops, nobles, kings, popes, or guild members of Middle Ages. Why would they care what peasants think? In fact trying to understand how peasants understand the world would be seen as immoral, as getting in the way of one’s need to act as a proper knight, religious figure, or member of a royal household.
The anger at CalPERS over objection to Frost’s bonus is not about whether she deserved it, it’s about the gall that some might have in expressing an opinion linking her compensation to any real-world outcome. To them, that makes no sense. It is like asking a peasant of their view of the bible. They can’t even read, because God has made it thus.
But, I would say, that ideology is dying, and we are on the verge of great revolts. The Iran War, covered in depth here, the insane approach to Russia and Ukraine, U.S. transnational capital, the comically evil Israel lobby, the way that the military is now purposed for oligarchs across the world, it’s all here, in detail. And while not everyone reads Naked Capitalism, the optimistic take is that so many have stopped reading and watching the cynical and corrupt media establishment. They are more open to the arguments and writing here than they ever have been. Will that make a difference? I have no idea. But it certainly annoys Frost, and that’s something.
Here’s why you should supported this site. I think we’re going to see a great unwind of a lot of our financial infrastructure, from private equity to AI, as the U.S. military power underpinning it ebbs. And one thing you know about Yves Smith is that she’s very good at tracking the details of financial crises, because she can say things that others avoid. This site is always interesting, but it may be on the verge of becoming important, as it was during the financial crisis.
So if you can, give. Give generously. And if you cannot, that is ok. Well, it’s not, but I can’t force you to give with a junk fee, I’m not Ticketmaster. I can only beg. So please go to the donation page and give generously.
Last year, I made the following prediction.
If you want a note of optimism, here it is. Most President’s gets punched in the face at some point in the first year of their administration. It happened to Bill Clinton as his health care bill fell apart, to Obama as the public lost faith in his bailouts, to Biden when he oversaw an unpopular withdrawal from Afghanistan, to Reagan as the economy slid into recession. It’ll likely happen to Trump. And there will be another opportunity to make a case for something different. But to make that case, you’ll have to know what’s going on. So keep reading Naked Capitalism, and forwarding it to your friends and putting the articles on the social media sites we all detest.
That has held up. Over the past year, Trump has been humiliated, humbled, and harried. He still acts out and preens, but his power is ebbing quickly. Soon we will have a new political group of leaders, most of whom will be terrible, but a few of whom will see the world the way we do. And that means we will have a lot more people to annoy.
So give, if you can. $5 or $5,000, every donation helps. Proceed to the Tip Jar and give generously!
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