September 10, 2010

Breaking: Tax Cuts for the Rich Remain Unpopular

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A new Gallup poll is out and it shows the same thing as every other poll recently taken on this subject: most people would prefer to keep in place tax cuts for the middle class but not extend tax cuts for the rich. So why isn’t everyone rushing to embrace this stand? At a minimum, there are three reasons:

  • It’s a pretty thin plurality. 44%-37% isn’t exactly a tsunami of public opinion.
  • As with most polls, this one doesn’t measure depth of feeling. But here’s a guess: the 44% who want to end tax cuts for the rich don’t actually care all that much about it. Sure, it would be nice, but hey — did you see the Vikings last night? Favre looked terrible, didn’t he?
  • As noted before, politicians don’t really care much what you think unless you’re rich. And it’s a pretty fair guess that nearly all the rich people in the country are in the 37% that wants to extend all the tax cuts. And they care about this a lot.

In addition, of course, you have district-level dynamics that don’t show up in a national poll. If you’re campaigning in a district where 55% of the registered voters want to extend the tax cuts for everyone, then that’s probably the stand you’re going to take. The rest of the country really doesn’t matter to you.

Oh — and did I forget venality and cowardice? Stir that into the mix too. Never forget venality and cowardice.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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