We Knew This Would Happen

Dear Reader,

On Monday, InTheseTimes.com featured Senior Editor David Sirota's must-read article "The $700 Billion Questions." Sirota skewers the White House's outrageous proposal to hand over $700 billion of taxpayer money to the private sphere, no questions asked.

Sirota's critique, though, is not confined to the White House. Sirota notes that except for Joseph Stiglitz, the advisors whom Obama assembled to respond to the current crisis "included not a single progressive, nor even one of the many visionaries like economist Dean Baker, who has for years been predicting exactly this kind of meltdown."

For those who may not remember, Dean Baker predicted this financial crisis in the pages of In These Times five years ago.

On May 9, 2003, we published "Bursting Bubbles," in which Baker foretold the housing and mortgage crisis. The New York Times didn't pick up this story until December 23, 2007 when it published "This Is the Sound of a Bubble Bursting." That's four years after Baker covered it. Where were the mainstream media in 2003 when the financial crisis was gaining traction? Oh, yeah, they were too busy cheerleading Bush's misguided war in Iraq!

In These Times consistently publishes pressing stories ignored by the mainstream media. Our writers cover what's going on right now while the mainstream media waits months—sometimes years—to catch up with what we already reported to you. Please make a gift to our magazine today, so we can continue publishing cutting-edge reporting and analysis.

Ironically, our magazine has been hit hard by the very tanking economy Baker warned about in our pages over five years ago. Things are rough and it's difficult to continue publishing in this climate.

We could not do this without our giving community. Please make a contribution to our magazine today. Any amount will make a difference.

In Solidarity,

Joel Bleifuss
Editor & Publisher

P.S. To read David Sirota's article on the bailout, click here. To read Dean Baker's prescient article, click here.

P.S. — Become an In These Times sustainer. Commit to supporting In These Times at $15 per month and get a one-year subscription at no additional cost. For more information, please contact Jarrett Dapier.