Chart of the Day: It’s a Good Time to Be a Bank

The latest FDIC report is out, and I know you’ve been waiting for it. Check out how our banks are doing!

Isn’t that great? And don’t be bitter just because you and I are more likely to be getting 2 percent raises this year. America’s banks made their money the old fashioned way: they lobbied for it. The FDIC explains:

The 5,542 FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported net income of $60.2 billion during the three months ended June 30, an increase of $12.1 billion (25.1 percent) from a year earlier. Higher net operating revenue (the sum of net interest income and noninterest income) and a lower effective tax rate contributed to the increase in industry net income. Assuming the effective tax rate before the new tax law, net income would have totaled an estimated $53.8 billion, an increase of $5.6 billion (11.7 percent) from second quarter 2017.

Without the Republican tax cut, bank earnings would have increased $5.6 billion last quarter. But with the Republican tax cut, bank earnings increased $12.1 billion. Ka ching! We should be seeing some very nice bonuses on Wall Street this year.

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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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