May 14, 2014

Quote of the Day: The Rich Even Get Better Air Than the Rest of Us

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From Harold Meyerson, writing about the Piketty-ization of air travel:

Even the air within the plane is apportioned by class. In its first-class cabins, Lufthansa has installed humidifiers that increase the humidity to 25 percent, while in coach, it ranges from 5 to 10 percent.

Read the rest. The combination of TSA and lost luggage and missed schedules and—above all—the relentless downsizing of both service and seating is why I increasingly have little interest in traveling. For anyone over six feet tall, flying has become such a dismal and cramped experience that it’s just not worth it.

But I’m in the minority. Only 10 percent of the population is over six feet, and anyway, people have long since demonstrated that they’re willing to put up with almost anything if it saves a few dollars in airfare. I guess I should just suck it up too.

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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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