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DEFLATION….Economists have been warning about the possibility of deflation for the past several months, and it looks like we might finally be getting it:

The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of how much Americans spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment and other goods and services, fell by 1 percent in October….Energy prices led the decline, falling 8.6 percent in October as the price of gasoline continued its steady slide from highs of more than $4 a gallon.

….In Wednesday’s report, even excluding volatile food and energy prices, prices dropped 0.1 percent in October. It was the first such decline in more than two decades and raises the specter of deflation as the economy contracts and demand for goods and services across the board plunges.

“This month it’s more than slowing, it’s outright contraction,” [James] O’Sullivan said. “And yes, if you extrapolate that, it’s deflation.”

It’s only 0.1% and it’s only for one month — so far. But that’s the biggest drop since 1982, and the drop in the primary CPI number is the biggest since 1947, yet another indication that our current recession is on track to be the worst we’ve suffered since World War II. More stimulus, please.

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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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