A Debt Ceiling Housekeeping Note

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A reminder for everyone writing about the debt ceiling games: We don’t reach the debt ceiling on August 2nd. We reached it two months ago, on May 16th. Treasury has been playing games ever since (“borrowing” from pension funds, suspending securities that help states manage their finances, etc. etc.).

August 2nd is merely the date when the games run out and we actually stop paying some bills. But just for the record, Congress blew through the debt ceiling long ago and has been mucking around ever since.

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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 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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