So what is so special about writing for Naked Capitalism? (Hint: since Naked Capitalism is special, please support this fundraiser at the Tip Jar).
Well, here’s my story as I approach the end of my first 12 months of writing as a member of the NC team. (You can support the Naked Capitalism team by clicking on the Tip Jar here.) I moved from the UK to live in Barcelona just over 20 years ago and spent the first 10 years working for language schools and engaged in academic translation work. This led to ghostwriting lengthy articles for one of Spain’s foremost business schools, and setting up my own political and business blog, Raging Bullshit, under the pseudonym Don Quijones.
By then the financial crisis was raging here in Spain and Naked Capitalism had become an authoritative source on how the global economy had devolved into such an ungodly mess. In 2013 I was offered an opportunity to work for Wolf Richter on his celebrated financial blog, Wolf Street (then known as Testosterone Pit). I worked for Wolf for the next 7 years, producing between 8-12 articles a month, some of which were cross-posted on NC. Wolf gave me a crash course on how to research and discuss economic and financial data and trends as well as the importance of backing up assertions with strong evidence and sound data. I will always be grateful to Wolf, who at the end of last year kindly recommended me to Yves.
The move to Naked Capitalism as a team member has given a boost to my own development, allowing me to cover a far wider range of topics of political as well as financial and business interest. When I started writing for Naked Capitalism a year ago, I was both thrilled and rather daunted, maybe even a little intimidated, by the prospect of writing a weekly article, due in part to the high level of specialist knowledge and expertise of its readership and commentariat. A graduate in history and a self-taught pseudo-economist, I am a consummate generalist.
Each article we writers produce always provokes intelligent, informed and sometimes very amusing feedback and insights which keep us on our toes. It’s no exaggeration to say that I have learnt something new from comments on every article I have written and have had to eat humble pie on more than one occasion when a commenter unearths an error. I will never forget being caught out by one commenter — and then ribbed by others — for referring to something going off as ‘a damp squid’, not ‘squib’.
Another critical feature of my development as a writer has been how much I’ve benefited from articles posted by my colleagues and, of course, the responses from the commentariat. This is particularly true with regard to issues relating to Covid-19 and the vaccines. Time and again NC has been ahead of the curve on issues such as aerosol transmission, the importance of mask-wearing and ventilation, and the limited efficacy of the vaccines. (If you want to reward NC for being early and right, please click the Tip Jar.) This, I believe, is down to a combination of factors: the open-mindedness, research and critical thinking skills of the writers; the editorial freedom Naked Capitalism provides, allowing its contributors to cover hugely important yet controversial issues that most other left-leaning alternative news websites steer clear of; and the unparalleled insights offered by the brain trusts Yves and Lambert have formed and nurtured over the years. So if you value these important communities as much as I do, please go to the donations page and chip in!
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Nick Corbishley 