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And now for some contradictory news about Wall Street earnings:

With the country’s major banks due Wednesday to start reporting third-quarter earnings, a new pessimism is taking hold on Wall Street based on the growing belief that the economy will remain weak for some time, limiting the industry’s ability to make money….Wall Street analysts who follow their own industry have recently slashed earnings estimates for a number of big players. Several firms have quietly fired staff, and many more layoffs are expected by early next year. There are even predictions of a severe drop in Wall Street’s notoriously generous compensation.

“We’re going to see a larger increase in unemployment in the financial services than anyone had expected,” said Steven Eckhaus, a lawyer who advises banks on employment matters.

So are Wall Street traders breaking out the champagne buckets (yesterday’s news) or preparing to sell their backup vacation homes (today’s news)? Hard to say. But this report does suggest one reason that it’s going to be hard to tell if financial reform is working. I’ve suggested before that overall industry profitability is a key metric to watch because a safer industry is inherently a less profitable industry. However, the opposite isn’t mathematically equivalent: a less profitable industry might be a safer industry but it might not be. It might be less profitable just because the economy is sucking.

So: if industry profits stay high, that’s definitely a bad sign. But if industry profits fall, it’s an ambiguous sign. Wait and see.

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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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