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ECONOMIC MELTDOWN UPDATE….Here in the U.S., we’ve now seen the collapse of Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Lehman Brothers, as well as the more-or-less-collapse of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. In addition, AIG and WaMu are teetering, and perhaps Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs too. Current conventional wisdom, speaking in that scarily even tone that airplane pilots assume when both their engines have flamed out, suggests that the U.S. financial system might melt down completely this week. Conversely, the cheery optimists think it might avoid it — for the next few days anyway. I’d guess the optimists are right, but it’s not as if I’d be willing to put any money behind that bet.

But here’s a question for one of the serious econ-bloggers out there: Have lots of big non-U.S. banks collapsed? There was Northern Rock, but anyone else? Are any European financial systems in danger of meltdown? Why not?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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