October 11, 2012

Flowchart: Are You a Taker or a Maker?

Tonight, when Joe Biden and Paul Ryan face off, you better know whether you’re a “taker” or a “maker.”

There is a lot riding on tonight’s vice presidential debate. Tonight, when Paul “Randsplainer” Ryan and Joe “The Bulldog” Biden butt heads, it might be useful to know just which side of the fence you’re on: The takers, or the makers? For that, we have this handy chart to help you figure it out. Good luck! 

sources:

College Students (IRS)

Members of the Military in Combat (IRS)

Veterans Post-2001 (Department of Veteran Affairs)

Senior Citizens (Social Security Administration)

George W. Bush (White House Archives)

Extended Unemployment Benefits (Council on Foreign Relations)

Government Benefits (Benefits.gov)

 

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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