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REGULATORY REFORM….Congress seems likely to pass some version of Henry Paulson’s Wall Street bailout bill. Maybe not precisely his version, but something close, maybe with some oversight added and a few restrictions on exactly how the money can be used. We will, of course, be promised that although the bailout has to be passed this instant and there’s no time to add regulatory reform into the enabling legislation, reform will be taken up just as soon as we’ve all caught our breath. I figure there are three ways this could turn out:

  • Option A: Republicans will filibuster, Democrats will wither, and basically nothing much will get passed at all. In other words, suckered again.

  • Options B: There will be some kind of panic and we’ll end up with a gigantic snarl of regulation that sounds tough but doesn’t really do anyone any good, sort of like Sarbanes-Oxley.

  • Option C: Everyone will take a deep breath, Democrats will stand up to the financial industry, and some reasonable set of new regulations will be hammered into place.

I’d put the odds at about 60% for Option A, 35% for Option B, and 5% for Option C. My only reservation is that maybe I’m being a little too optimistic about all this.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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