July 19, 2010

Beck’s Favorite Gold Company Still At It

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Back in May, we posted an investigation into Glenn Beck’s favorite gold company, Goldline International. The story documented how the company routinely scares people into buying overpriced gold coins—in fact, the firm had been sanctioned in Missouri for encouraging an elderly woman to liquidate some of her retirement investments to buy its overpriced products. Because Goldline isn’t a licensed investment firm, and its salespeople aren’t licensed investment advisors, they can’t legally recommend that customers buy or sell securities.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) released his own report that month that made similar findings and called on the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Goldline’s practices. Well, apparently even a congressional investigation wasn’t enough to get the company to clean up its act. In its new August issue, Consumer Reports Money Advisor reports that Goldline is still dispensing what sounds an awful lot like investment advice. The story is not online, but the magazine writes:

“We were also concerned about advice we got from a company rep. Some financial experts recommend keeping about 5 percent of a portfolio in gold as an inflation hedge; a Goldline rep suggested we go as high as 20 percent. To raise the money, he suggested we liquidate IRAs or old 401(k)s.”

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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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