Chart of the Day: The War on Dodd-Frank

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Dodd-Frank was not exactly a brutal piece of financial regulation even when it first passed. In fact, it was so watered down that its overall effect was always likely to be pretty modest. Since then, though, it’s gotten watered down even more. Why? Because banks are very, very rich and very, very connected, while financial reformers….aren’t. The chart below tells the story at a glance, showing the number of meetings to discuss regulatory interpretation and implementation over the past three years. As you can see, the reform groups never had a chance.

This comes via Erika Eichelberger, who has more here. Note that Goldman Sachs alone accounts for 222 of these meetings.

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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.

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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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