Quote of the Day # 2 – 10.31.08

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QUOTE OF THE DAY #2….From Brad DeLong, trying to figure out what the hell has happened to the economy:

“A 3% decline in aggregate asset values should not be a big problem for the macroeconomy. Yet it is.”

To me, the answer appears to be related to derivative speculation. But that is probably too simpleminded. My own personal simplemindedness aside, however, it scares me that the world’s most sophisticated economists don’t seem to know what the answer is either.

On the other hand, as near as I can tell, we still don’t know for sure what caused the Great Depression or even the Black Monday crash of 1987. So maybe we’ll never really know with this one either.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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