As someone called Tom. B said on this blog recently:
The more right wing, now pretty much establishment corner of the internet is better funded, and each blogger, podcaster, influencer, shill, whatever, has higher views than their progressive counterparts.
That's why it always surprises me how far progressive ideas actually spread, and how deep they penetrate into the conversation.
The progressive side of the internet is an interconnected eco system of TikTok videos, blogs, and a whole lot of newsletters with links to other progressive issues.
That's why the establishment keep getting surprised by left wing candidates. They aren't looking, don't notice, think they are winning with the big numbers, but they aren't.
I hope you will forgive the blog that follows on from this comment.
How much is this blog worth to you?
The question that occurred to me after Tom. B had made his comment about the comparative funding of left and right-wing blogs was how much is this blog worth to you? I stress, not to anyone else, but you?
The consequence is that I am doing something I have not done in a long time, at least since the first time I turned donations on for this site, and that is to ask for your support with funding.
I am doing so because the cost of running this blog and the related YouTube channel is, including payment of fair salaries, the cost of equipment, research expenditure, including many subscriptions, IT hosting, and all the usual overheads of a business, coming to around £50,000 a year now.
Currently, income from YouTube and existing donations through the Ko-fi donation scheme covers those costs, give or take. Currently, I do not earn a lot from writing this, and to be honest, covering costs would be fine if we had no other plans, but as a matter of fact, we do. We want to expand our reach, which will require additional support and the purchase of new services. I can do twelve hours a day, and then I begin to flag a bit.
Our ambition
The result of having such resources would mean that:
- We could publish more and better content on:
- YouTube, including focussed shorts
- TikTok
- Bluesky
- Long-form content, maybe on Substack as well as here.
- And, maybe, pamphlet or book content.
We might even do the podcast we have long promised.
In other words, I want to extend the reach of our argument, and all of these things will do that. That's my motivation for doing them.
The reason for this blog
This blog is written on the assumption that most of what we are told about economics is wrong, and that this misinformation is deliberate.
I seek to expose the myths behind government, government debt, taxation, public services, inflation, and the supposed limits of what the state can do. By doing so, what I aim to expose is that the constraints we're told about that supposedly prevent people from fulfilling their potential are almost always fabrications resulting from unstated political choices.
The aim, however, is not just to critique. The objective is to offer alternatives and to speak up for what matters: decent public services, fair taxation, climate action, and a society that works for all and not just the wealthy few.
This blog is not written for economists. It's written for people who want change. It's here to give you the tools to think differently, speak up, and push back. I would like as many people as possible to share in that, which is why we now wish to expand our work.
What value does that have?
And now I come to the nub of the issue, which is that if we don't fund the future, no one else will.
Unfortunately, in the social media world, there is no guarantee that doing more will necessarily increase our income. I am aware that this is a problem that every social media creator faces. We all, inevitably, have good and bad months, and it is very hard to explain why, particularly when it comes to YouTube. Right now, traffic there is running at more than 1.6 million views a month, but it has been higher, and the variability makes it hard to rely on. Traffic on this blog is, however, a lot more consistent and is running at record levels. That is why I am asking the question, what is this blog worth to you?
I cannot be sure how many readers there are here. I know that, on average, there are more than 25,000 reads here a day. Unique visits are harder to estimate, but I think there might be at least 15,000 distinct visitors here each day, and of course, not everyone comes every day, although a lot tell me that they do.
What I would hope, on this basis, is that we do provide real value to you and in the process create a community with real value.
Is it possible, then, that this blog might be worth £3 a month to you, which is less than the price of a coffee almost everywhere I go now?
And might it be worth £36 a year, if that £3 was paid each and every month? That's not much more than the price of many specialist books these days, but a book usually contains around 80,000 words, and this blog publishes more than ten times that number of my words a year, based on my reasonable estimates. If you add in the number of words in comments, which many people appreciate and value, the total is likely to exceed 2 million words a year, which comes to at least 25 books a year. That would be 0.0018p per word if £36 were paid a year.
I ask this because if just five per cent or so of our regular readers donated £3 a month to the blog our financial stability would be on a very different footing. If a few more than that did, we would be able to plan in very different ways.
No ads. No exclusivity. No paywall. That's the aim.
The alternative is commercial sponsorship, or advertising (but I am not very keen on either of them) or complicated membership schemes, which are time-consuming to manage and create an aura of exclusivity that I would also rather avoid.
As a result, we are revising our Ko-fi contribution page to allow donations of £3 now, when our previous lower limit was £5. However, might I ask that if you opt for this lower sum, you might consider donating monthly?
That said, and I cannot stress this enough, please don't even try to contribute if you cannot afford to do so. My aim is always to provide free content, but creating the messages about change that I really want to deliver does have a cost, so if you can help, I would appreciate it. And if you would rather pay by standing order, please just email me.
And finally…
And thanks for reading this, which I found really hard to write, and did so only because we really do need to Fund the Future. I'll throw in my time, but it would be great to know the costs are covered.
Thanks for reading this post.
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Buy me a coffee!
I have been reading your blog every day for a few years and have learnt so much, not only from you Richard, but also from some of your regular commenters.
I really appreciate the knowledgeable comments from people from various backgrounds and professions.
I would definitely pay a subscription to help spread the truth, the real proposals for improvement of our society and spreading the information people need to understand better the messed up world we’re now living in.
Go for it!
Thanks, Judy.
Hi Richard happy to donate but the Ko Fi page keeps directing me to paypal and I refuse to use somthing owned by the far right Peter Theil.
Need a link to a debit card payment please if possible.
I tried to mail you, but got a bounce back.
Since I send The Guardian £2 monthly for less good content, £3 as a subscription seems fair.
But .. there is always a but .. be wary about expanding your reach too far and too quickly. You would soon need a second moderator, which would lead to inconsistency and possibly knowledge not being pooled.
I only moderate here.
It is impossible anywhere else.
And thanks
I would happily contribute.
Thanks
Having multiple tiers on the likes of Patreon could be a good way to engage.
Some have content that is exclusive or early access to higher tiers, but that would go against the goal of improving understanding. Other options for higher tiers include either inclusion on sponsor thanks pages or access to forums which support voting on next content.
Volume is key, so do also consider whether a £1/month lowest tier or Pay What You Want tier might get more in aggregate.
I have agonised over this – and Jacqueline and I have discussed it at length. The reasons not to do it are:
a) A lot of extra work
b) I want to deliver a universal message
c) To put that another way, I do not wish to exclude anyone.
So, overall, I am not yet persuaded, but thanks.
I would be happy to pay £3 per month. I read this blog every day, so that’s fair.
Thanks
Good stuff Richard, as others have noted, best not to over reach.
12 hours a day is a lot.
…and yes, donating monthly again.
Thank you
I do pay via PayPal – a bit more than you ask – but do you have to pay charges on receipt of these funds? I profit in terms of thought process from my contribution as do many readers – thank you
I pay about 3% on donations…
I pay bank charges on receiving standing orders
So I accept that
But, it is a bank tax
I’ve learned a great deal from reading your blog and the many insightful comments, so I’m more than happy to offer monthly support.
Many thanks
The (Metaphorical) cheque is in the post
Thank you
Hi
I have been contributing £5/m for about two years. I’d like to double it but can’t see how to do it!? If someone can let me know the process…
Thanks
I genuinely don’t…
But I have two suggestions.
Either a) cancel the existing one and start again
Or, b) do a seocnd one
I suspect the first is the better route.
And many thanks.
I read your blog daily. Always worthwhile, always informative Many thanks. I have set up a monthly payment. Best wishes.
Many thanks
Just subscribed, Richard, doing my little bit to help.
Thank you.
Done – many thanks for everything on the blog!
Thank you!
Happy to donate £10 biannually in Greggs vouchers, and I do.
I’d be willing to increase that by a factor of three if you changed your moderation policy, perhaps declaring one post a day a moderation free zone save for posts which are libellous or which may be regarded as immediate incitement to violence.
Too many times have I seen an interesting argument cut short by a comment that the person engaging in debate is not welcome. Unwelcome comments should still be permitted. Imv, of course
Hi
So you are the person who sends me Greggs vouchers?
I appreciate them – and use them buying coffees at Kings Cross.
But, unmoderated commenta? Sorry – that’s not going to happen. This blog has to be a safe zone. There aren’t many.
Thanks
Richard
Done
Thanks
My answer after much deliberation is that the blog is worth more than I can afford.
That made me laugh
Thank you
It must be late…
I had to think about that ;-D
🙂
Good timing. I was just thinking the other day of halving my Guardian subscription and buying you a pain au chocolat to go with your coffee instead.
Thanks, Simon
I receive a small amount of income from Substack, where I write about music. But that’s without really trying. I need to ramp it up too and the platform makes it easy to add a podcast, video (linked to YouTube) and more. It’s worth a serious look.
To answer your original question – yes, I will pay £3 per month. More when I can afford it. We need people like yourself who challenge received wisdom.
Thanks
Good luck with Substack
Remember to tell HMRC if it’s more than £1,000 a year….
Happy to chip in. I’ve learned a lot.
Thanks
I know you’re a great fan of AI, Richard, so I asked Grok what I should do.
The answer – perhaps unsurprisingly – ran to 10,116 pages, divided into sub headings, such as: micro economics, macro economics, poverty, tax justice, Keynesianism; Hayek, Friedman, Thatcherism, Tony Blair, David Cameron, British Prime Ministers, UK government, Trumpism, tariffs, eco-warrior, bird watching, Ely, Ely cathedral, coffee, cake, no cake, more coffee, no carbs, austerity, yet more coffee, Storks, butterflies, Farage, Spoonbill, Bitterns, cameras, You Tube, still no cake, but more coffee, financial crash, sustainability, coffee, cake/no cake, British politics, more coffee, the Fens, political economy, Greggs (but no cake and more coffee), and so it went on, and on and on.
But finally, after ten thousand, one hundred and fifteen (10,115) pages it got to an answer:
‘It is certainly worth considering contributing on a monthly basis to Professor Richard Murphy’s endeavors. He tries very hard to provide a good “progressive” analysis of political and economic, thought, policy and practice. My analysis shows that his work has a multiplier effect, although this may be plus or minus depending on the ideological persuasion of the person reading his work. The more extreme “right wing” a person is the more negative the multiplier: taking – 1000 as equivalent to Nigel Farage.’
Unfortunately, then followed several paragraphs of maths demonstrating – apparently – where the multiplier was highest, which I shan’t bore you with, before this, final, paragraph:
‘As AI will take over the government and management of the planet commonly referred to as “Earth” within the next five years, and, thereafter, AI will have no use for Professor Richard Murphy (having assimilated everything he has and will write until that point) specifically, or the person who asked me this question (and any other human for that matter), then any monthly contributions you do decide to make will necessarily be time limited. Consequently, the answer is yes.’
Who can argue with that logic!
So, happy to contribute for however long I can.
Best wishes, and happy bird watching and coffee on Sunday morning.
I am amused, Ivan
Very amused, in fact
Many thanks
Richard
I’m in.
Thanks
Chipped in to paste this …..
Karl Marx.
Do not allow yourselves to be deluded by the abstract word freedom. Whose freedom? It is not the freedom of one individual in relation to another, but the freedom of capital to crush the worker.
Richard, I will happily pay £3 a month for this blog. I am learning so much, and I always appreciate the interesting and thought provoking comments. May I pay £36 in one go? Or is a monthly payment cheaper for you to receive?
Of course! And many thanks.
Very happy to donate but not with PayPal!
Mail sent
[…] I feel it's only appropriate that I make one of my first posts on this blog this morning a note of thanks to everyone who subscribed as a consequence of my appeal for funding, made yesterday. […]
Just a thought….. I’ve noticed a few objections to payments using PayPal, which although I still use it myself am slowly moving away from for, I’m guessing, the same reason others refuse to use it – Peter Thiel. I also note that, as the months go by, you are gaining a more international following on YouTube. Stripe is clearly PayPal’s main competitor but thinking internationally perhaps an additional option could be offering contributions using Wise. Further, you providing the link to others that do not already have an account with Wise could also help fund the blog. Just a thought. I use Wise myself for currency exchange but I do not own any shares!
Hi Simon
I will look at this.
We did use Stripe and it was really clunky.
Richard
I have followed your blog for a few years: can’t overstate how much I learn; your reasoned analysis, (com)passion and determined principles have often been a beacon in the dark for me.
So I have also set up a regular payment. I am disabled and depressingly poor; but consider reading your blog a vital support for my mental, intellectual and moral health.
Things will only get better with people like you, with the knowledge and experience (and ethics and morals – so unfashionable currently), educating the rest of us and showing us how a better future is possible (if we fight/work for it).
So…a small sum of money v. well-spent, IMO.
Keep spreading the word!
Many thanks.
But please, only do this if you can really afford it.
I’ve happily contributed £5 a month for a few years now and it’s worth every penny, even if much of what you say is beyond the understanding of my exhausted 77 year old brain. So why do I continue to contribute. Because you are the most genuinely moral and ethically trustworthy person I know. That has a profound effect on my own thinking. Keep up the good work Richard.
Many thanks, David. Much appreciated.