October 21, 2008

Bailout Watch – 10.21.2008

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BAILOUT WATCH….The latest financial bailout news:

The Federal Reserve, continuing its expansive campaign to try to keep cash flowing through the financial system, unveiled a new program today that acts as a backstop to money market mutual funds….The Fed said this morning that it will lend up to $540 billion to new special entities that will stand ready to buy up that short-term debt from money market mutual funds.

Well, we’re now guaranteeing money funds, the commercial paper market, interbank lending, and commercial deposits up to $250,000. There are so many term lending facilities available I can’t even keep track of them. We’re buying up toxic assets from banks and providing them with $250 billion of new capital (so far) whether they want it or not. What’s next? Guaranteeing the pork belly market?

It’s no wonder that even Ben Bernanke now favors a fiscal stimulus package that he’d normally hate. There’s really not too much left to do, is there?

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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