Jobs, the Rich, and Other Economic Myths

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Hey, waddayaknow. My print piece for the magazine this month, Five Six Myths About the Economy,” is now up on the website. That’s handy timing, what with Occupy Wall Street in full swing, isn’t it? It’s not quite as magisterial as Ezra Klein’s take on Obama’s economic policy this weekend (which I highly recommend), but it makes up for that with several lovely charts.

The chart below illustrates Myth #3, Lower taxes are the best way to grow the economy. I’m all in favor of low taxes if we can afford them, but in the moderate range that we set tax rates in the United States, their effect on economic growth and productivity is practically nothing. All the hot air in the world from our Republican friends just can’t change that basic fact.

Anyway, there are more myths where that came from. Just click the link to bone up on what you need to know before you visit the relatives this Thanksgiving.

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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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