March 27, 2006

T-Bills for Tots

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The Federal Reserve recently launched a site geared towards kids aged eleven to fourteen. Trying to make financial matters “fun and interesting,” children are lead by a giant eagle wearing a patriotic top-hat and a tie through the basic world of the Federal Reserve. Curiously, the site fails to mention the word “debt” anywhere, a gaping hole in any economics lesson. But it does delve into interest rates, inflation, growth and the Federal Open Market Committee.

Another fun kids’ site stimulates kids by querying: “Have you ever asked ‘Why do we have to pay taxes?’ Do your parents pull their hair out around April 15th?” Oh, to be a kid in the age of the internet.

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We've never been very good at being conservative.

And usually, that serves us well in doing the ambitious, hard-hitting journalism that you turn to Mother Jones for. But it also means we can't afford to come up short when it comes to scratching together the funds it takes to keep our team firing on all cylinders, and the truth is, we finished our budgeting cycle on June 30 about $100,000 short of our online goal.

This is no time to come up short. It's time to fight like hell, as our namesake would tell us to do, for a democracy where minority rule cannot impose an extreme agenda, where facts matter, and where accountability has a chance at the polls and in the press. If you value our reporting and you can right now, please help us dig out of the $100,000 hole we're starting our new budgeting cycle in with an always-needed and always-appreciated donation today.

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