Chart of the Day: The Government and the Rich

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Monika Bauerlein,
CEO

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December is make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising, and in "No Cute Headlines or Manipulative BS," we hope that giving it to you as matter-of-fact as we can will work to raise the $350,000 we need to raise this month. Donations make up 74 percent of our budget this year, and all online gifts will be matched and go twice as far until we hit our goal.

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This chart from the Pew Economic Mobility Project is actually a few months old, but it seems newly relevant in light of the Occupy Wall Street protests. If you want to know why people are angry, this tells the story. If you want to know why people don’t think much of government, this tells the story. If you want to know why people are overwhelmingly in favor of increasing taxes on the rich, this tells the story. Basically, this chart tells a lot of stories.