Obama to Clinton: Show Me Your Taxes

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Barack Obama posted his and Michelle’s tax forms yesterday, and it seems that their recent rise to fame has also brought a rise in fortune. From 2004 to 2006, the Obamas’ combined income increased five-fold to just under $1 million: $983,826 (adjusted gross income). Must be nice. During this same period, from 2004 to 2006, the personal savings rate in the U.S. declined significantly, even dipping negative at the end of 2005—something that hadn’t happened since the Great Depression.

This may stir doubts among cautious Obama supporters. Can Moneybags relate to the average American? However, in the battle over transparency with rival Hillary Clinton, this may be a winning move. HRC has positioned herself as the establishment candidate, which breeds a certain amount of resentment in itself, and her hesitancy to release her tax forms might only deepen the feeling. If she doesn’t release them, she appears secretive (already a problem for her); but if she brings more media attention to her and Bill’s wealth, she’ll make Obama look like a regular working stiff.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

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