Quote of the Day: Yanking the IVs

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From James Galbraith, writing about our badly misguided approach to reviving the economy:

Federal budget deficits in this situation are like IV-bags in an emergency room: they stabilize things. IV’s are definitely linked to sickness, and no one would use them if they weren’t necessary. But very few doctors propose to cut back on saline while the patient is still sick. Today, however, the official economists and their followers in Congress, the White House and the media are divided between those who would remove the IV’s slowly, whether the patient recovers or not, and those who’d like to charge through the wards, yanking needles from arms. The debt deal enacted earlier this month put the first group in charge, but that’s pretty cold comfort.

We are doomed.

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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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