This Week: THE 2010 NYGAARD NOTES PLEDGE DRIVE

Nygaard Notes is supported solely by the voluntary contributions of readers.
I'm hoping to make this a short Pledge Drive
Please send in your Pledge BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH -- ten days from now.
Not sure you want to make a Pledge?
This issue of Nygaard Notes explains how -- and why -- you may wish to do so.
Thank you!

Here's How to Make a Pledge to Support Nygaard Notes

How Much Should Your Pledge Be?

Public Radio. Nygaard Notes. Similar Method, Different Structure
Already a Pledger? Read This
"Quote" of the YEAR: "Only The Empire Is Eternal"

Help for Haiti

Greetings,

I only did ONE Pledge Drive in 2009 instead of the standard two. Why? Part of the reason is that I just got too busy with my life, especially in the past six months. The other part of the reason was that I was so aware of the economic difficulties that so many of us are facing that I just didn't think it was right to ask for money.

Now, here we are in 2010, and the economy is still in very bad shape. But I have to do a Pledge Drive nonetheless, or else I'll have to cut back on Nygaard Notes, and I don't think any of you would support that. That's because the only way I could cut back would be to reduce the number of issues I put out every year. The other ways to cut back would be to do less research, or less fact-checking, or less time thinking through the essays I offer. That would reduce the quality of Nygaard Notes, and then why even bother? There are plenty of quick-and-cheap "blogs" out there, with sloppy writing and stories constructed on poorly-sourced and mysterious pseudo-facts. That's not what I do, thanks to all of you who pledge your support to allow me to spend the time needed to maintain the high standards to which I am committed and you are accustomed.

So, here I am again, asking you to open your hearts and your checkbooks and make it possible to continue this work. Some of you may not know that the Nygaard Notes project includes not only the writing of the Notes, but also some teaching, some speaking, some essays published elsewhere, some TV work, some consulting and giving assistance to activists around the country. Somewhere in that list should be the writing of a book based on some of the ideas that you've seen in these pages. That's also on the agenda, as I explained last week.

In short, your Pledges support the work of this one public intellectual who is committed to use his skills and talents to help support the broadest possible movement for profound social change.

When you make a Pledge to Nygaard Notes, you are supporting all of this. And the more Pledges I get, the more of it I can do. Thank you for your support. I am humbled and proud to have earned your trust and faith.

In solidarity,

Jeff Nygaard

Here's How to Make a Pledge to Support Nygaard Notes

Nygaard Notes is made possible by readers who donate money to the project in the form of Pledges. (It's kind of like Public Radio pledge drives, only different. See the essay elsewhere in this issue.)

There are two ways to make a Pledge of support to Nygaard Notes.

The FIRST WAY is to make out a check to "Nygaard Notes," and mail it to:

Nygaard Notes
P.O. Box 14354
Minneapolis, MN 55414

The SECOND WAY is to use your credit card and pay via the PayPal system. Here's how:

1. Go to the Nygaard Notes home page
2. Look for "Donate to Nygaard Notes, and follow the instructions to donate online using the PayPal system.

(If you have already made a Pledge, or already know you want to, then there's nothing else for you to read in this issue EXCEPT for the "Quote" of the Year and "Help for Haiti.")

Maybe you are a first-time Pledger, but don't know how much your first Pledge should be. Well, the next article addresses that very issue...

How Much Should Your Pledge Be?

Here are THREE distinct methods for figuring out how much you would like to donate to support this independent journalism project.

Method #1: Tried and True: Pay Per Issue

The familiar way of pledging, or subscribing, is to attempt to determine what each issue is "worth." That would involve a look at the "market," which would mean finding other newsletters like this one that charge per issue and trying to be competitive with them. This "traditional" method is not my favorite, since it makes it seem like each issue is "worth" a certain amount, which is not the way I think. (The way I think is more like Method #2 below.)

(Plus, where would you find another newsletter like this one? It's unique!)

Still, if this is the method you want to use to settle on an amount, here's what you need to know: One year in Nygaard Notes-land usually sees the publication of between 25 and 40 issues, depending on how long they are. So, if each issue is worth a dollar to you, then you could send me $25 to $40. Fifty cents each? Then it's $12.50 to $20. Maybe each issue is worth $5.00 to you. Then you would send in $125 to $200. And so on.

Method #2: Income/Wealth Calculation

A second way to think about what amount to pledge is to relate your contribution to your own income or wealth. Are you willing to devote one or two hour's worth of your wages each year to supporting Nygaard Notes? Then send me that amount. If you make minimum wage, I am more than happy to accept $7.25 to $14.50 for your annual subscription donation. I refer here to the current Federal minimum wage, maybe it's different where you live.

If you make closer to the median hourly wage for United Statesians, then it gets a little more complicated. Overall, the median hourly wage is $15.57 (2008 figures, most recent available). So you could send me that amount, or twice that, $31.14.

Looked at another way, if you are "management," then you make closer to $42.15/hour. If you are a parking lot attendant, you are under $10/hour, most likely. I could go on and on. You get the idea.

Moving away from income to wealth (that is, looking at what you HAVE instead of what you EARN), you could send one-tenth of 1% of your net worth. Since the median net worth for all households in the United States is about $120,000 (says the Census Bureau, 2007 figures), this would be roughly $120.00. (For help in figuring out your own wealth, the median household income, etc., see Nygaard Notes #138, "Wealth in the United States.") http://www.nygaardnotes.org/issues/nn0138.html

Method #3: Whatever

You may think up your own Pledge amount based on some outrageously complex system that is impossible to reproduce here. Or, you may just wing it. Whatever works for you is fine with me!

Whatever you decide to send, I will record it and then I will contact you in a year and ask you to renew your Pledge. (Most people do renew, but you don't have to.) I will even send a pre-addressed and stamped envelope—that's about as easy as it gets.

Thank you for supporting Nygaard Notes!

For the rest of you who still have not decided to make your support of this independent journalism experiment concrete in the form of a Pledge, the next article explains what this Pledge thing is all about and why I think you should contribute. So please keep reading...

Public Radio. Nygaard Notes. Similar Method, Different Structure

The Nygaard Notes Pledge Drive is similar to the pledge drives one usually hears on Public Radio. Both news and information services—Nygaard Notes and Public Radio—are "free," but everyone knows that it costs money to produce these "free" services. So we—Public Radio and me, that is—both come at you now and then asking you to voluntarily contribute some money in the form of a pledge. This support allows us to pay the bills and to continue to keep making our work available to anyone who "tunes in."

Both Public Radio and the Notes rely on pledges, but you probably didn't know that such direct member support makes up less than one percent of the budget for National Public Radio. Most of their funding comes from things like foundation grants, tax money, advertising (or, as they like to call it, "Corporate Underwriters"), money from investments, sales of coffee mugs, T-shirts, radios.... That's not the case with the newsletter you are reading. This year, as has been the case for the past eleven years, every penny of the support needed to keep Nygaard Notes happening comes directly from the readers of Nygaard Notes. No grants, no investments, no advertising, no nothing. Just you.

Another big difference between Nygaard Notes and Public Broadcasting—radio or TV—is that Nygaard Notes has almost no overhead costs. I work out of my home. All I have, and all I really need, is a computer (and related machines), a telephone, and a lot of energy and experience. Then what is the reason (you may ask) that I need Pledges? The answer is: Time. Every dollar that you pledge to Nygaard Notes allows me to spend more time doing the extensive research and painstaking construction of sentences and paragraphs that go into every issue I send out. If I didn't receive some money from you, the readers, I couldn't continue to produce a newsletter like Nygaard Notes. I would have to spend all of my time earning a living instead of producing this unique and high-quality newsletter.

Why don't I just charge money for subscriptions? It's important to me to make Nygaard Notes a free publication because I want to assure that money is never a barrier to readers who have little money but who can nonetheless use the information and analysis that I publish in these pages. I support the project via voluntary pledges because, in principle, I think the kind of work I do should be public property. I don't agree with the whole notion of "intellectual property," copyright, and all of that. What I do believe is that people who are able to produce useful news and information that serves society should be supported for doing so. By asking for voluntary contributions I address both of these Two Big Issues: The newsletter remains available to the world free of charge, and I get to spend enough time on it to do it right.

It's simple. It's straightforward. Now here is my simple and straightforward request:
Please send in your Pledge TODAY!

Remember the two methods:

1. By U.S. Mail (see address above)
2. Online: www.nygaardnotes.org

Already a Pledger? Read This

Maybe you made a Pledge to Nygaard Notes in 2008, and were expecting to get a renewal notice in the mail sometime in 2009, like you usually do. There are a few of you in this category, so here's what you should know:

I have been so busy for the past few months, and so aware of the financial difficulties that many of you are facing in this economy, that I have put off sending out renewal notices for a while. If you have been wondering why you have not received your notice, that's the reason. It's not because I don't need your support!

For many years now I have sent out, via the U.S. Postal Service, a renewal notice to all Pledgers at or near the anniversary of your most recent Pledge. It reminds you of how much you pledged, and asks you to send in the current year's Pledge. I even enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope! I'll do that again, later this month, if I don't hear from you first. BUT...

If you would prefer to receive your notice via email, rather than in paper form, then you should send ME an email, and ask to receive your renewal via return email. I will then send you an email with the same letter, and the same information, but without the paper or the stamps. Then you can either send in your Pledge online, or use your own envelope to mail in your check.

Summary: If you do nothing right now, you'll soon receive your renewal notice in the mail. To stop that from happening, send me a note. Thanks!

"Quote" of the YEAR

"Only The Empire Is Eternal"

I've been featuring a Quote of the Week in the pages of Nygaard Notes since 1999 (when it was still called Quote of the Week and not "Quote" of the Week). But I have never had a "Quote" of the Year. This year I decided I should.

(By the way, a reader who called himself "The Persnickety Grammarian" long ago informed me that the proper term for this feature should be "Quotation of the Week" since "Quote" is the verb and "Quotation" is the noun. Thanks, Aaron! But I liked the sound of "Quote of the Week," so I kept the grammar but put the word "Quote" in quotation marks. I don't know why I find this amusing, but I do. So that's the way it's been ever since.)

Fittingly, since I have been calling 2009 the Year of Empire in Nygaard Notes, the "Quote" of the Year has to do with that very subject. This "Quote" was never featured as a "Quote" of the Week during the year, which might make it ineligible to be a "Quote" of the Year if there were any rules about it. But there are not.

This QOTY I published as a part of an essay in Nygaard Notes #443 on November 25th. The words I was quoting originally appeared in an article in Foreign Policy magazine, entitled "Take Me Back to Constantinople: How Byzantium, Not Rome, Can Help Preserve Pax Americana." (Don't get me started on the magical thinking that lies behind the use of the term Pax Americana, or "American Peace"!) Byzantium, which became Constantinople and is now Istanbul, was the name of the center of the Byzantine Empire, part of and successor to the Roman Empire, if you wanna know.

The author is one Edward Luttwak, well-known in policy circles as a historian and consultant, having worked in the inner circles of the spy world and the federal government. He's apparently a very influential guy in Foreign Policy circles.

In the article, drawn from his new book "The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire," Luttwak lists "seven lessons" that "The United States would do well to heed... if it wishes to remain a great power..." The Byzantine Empire lasted for about 1,100 years, which I'm guessing gives a hint as to what he has in mind for the current Empire.

Luttwak's final lesson, Lesson #7, I hereby declare my "Quote" of the Year for 2009:

"When diplomacy and subversion are not enough and fighting is unavoidable, use methods and tactics that exploit enemy weaknesses, avoid consuming combat forces, and patiently whittle down the enemy's strength. This might require much time. But there is no urgency because as soon as one enemy is no more, another will surely take his place. All is constantly changing as rulers and nations rise and fall. Only the empire is eternal—if, that is, it does not exhaust itself."

Help for Haiti

Some have asked me about good ways to support relief efforts in Haiti during the current disaster. I have a friend whose judgement I trust in this matter. Her name is Laura Flynn and here's what she said:

"My suggestion is giving to Partners in Health (Paul Farmer's organization) which has medical staff on the ground and is already offering emergency services in Port-au-Prince. They were able to mobilize and deliver a great deal of humanitarian aide last year after the hurricane. (Learn a bit about Farmer here.)

"For longer term help, I'd suggest giving to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund of the Haiti Action Committee. I was involved in creating this fund in the aftermath of the 2004 coup to offer support to the victims of the coup. Earthquake relief funds donated now will go directly to grassroots organizations in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince (and elsewhere as needed) to help them rebuild."