October 11, 2012

Chart of the Day: New Unemployment Claims Drop Sharply

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Was last week’s unemployment drop a statistical fluke? There’s no way to say for sure, but I think the evidence suggests that it’s mostly quite real. Today, via Steve Benen, we get further confirmation of this: initial unemployment claims, which have been on a steady downward trajectory for the past two years, have dropped sharply over the past month, culminating in an unexpected drop of 30,000 in just the past week. The usual caveat applies: this is a noisy series and a single data point doesn’t prove anything. But this recent drop is in line with both September’s encouraging unemployment number as well as the overall trend of the past two years. Sorry, Jack.

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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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