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1 in 4 U.S. jobs provides below-poverty level income: Penn State University, Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart.

Americans spending at least one year below the poverty line: Mark R. Rank, Professor of Sociology, Washington University. St. Louis, Mo.

Number of Americans who are officially poor: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004.”

Household average net worth: Federal Reserve, Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Evidence from the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances.”

Bush tax cuts: Tax Policy Center, Conference Agreement on the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005: Distribution of Federal Tax Change By Income Class.î 10-May-06.

Sen. Charles Grassley: Congressional Record, Oct. 1, 2002, p. S9657.

Healthy Marriages funding: FY 2006 Budget Analysis, AFSCME.org; DHHS Press Release; Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (S. 1932), Sec. 7101.

Cuts to housing for people with disabilities: White House Office of Management and Budget, Budget of the United States Government, FY 2007.

Commuting expenses for working poor: U.S. Department of Transportation /Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Commuting Expenses: Disparity for the Working Poor.”

Commuting expenses for middle-income workers: U.S. Department of Transportation /Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Commuting Expenses: Disparity for the Working Poor.”

New jobs in suburbs: U.S. Department of Transportation/Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Welfare Reform and Access to Jobs in Boston.î January 1998.

Boston jobs near public transit: U.S. Department of Transportation/Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Welfare Reform and Access to Jobs in Boston. January 1998.

Welfare moms and car ownership: U.S. Department of Transportation/Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Welfare Reform and Access to Jobs in Boston. January 1998.

Welfare leavers: Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families: TANF Welfare Statistics 2002.

1 in 7 have no support: Urban Institute, Disconnected Welfare Leavers Face Serious Risks Pamela J. Loprest, August 2003.

Number of uninsured Americans: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004.”

Companies that offer health insurance: U.S. Census Bureau, Health Insurance Coverage in the United States 2002.”

Uninsured with medical debt: Gaps in Health Insurance: An All-American Problem, The Commonwealth Fund.

Doctors providing reduced-cost care: Center for Studying Health System Change, U.S. Physician Charity Care Continues Decade-Long Decline. March 23, 2006.

The Rich Rise, the Poor Stagnate: US Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2002, “Table A4 Selected Measures of Household Income Dispersion: 1967-2002.”

Elderly income: Penn State University, Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart.

Minnesota man doesn’t pay fire fee: International Falls Fire Department, Chief Jerry Jensen, International Falls, Minnesota.

Health costs of high-school dropouts: Muennig, Peter. Health Returns to Education Interventions,” Columbia University. Fall 2005 symposium on the social costs of inadequate education.

Gap between white and black men’s wages: Western, Bruce and Becky Pettit. “Black-White Wage Inequality, Employment Rates, and Incarceration, American Journal of Sociology. Vol. 111, No. 2 (Sept. 2005): 553-78.

True jobless rate of black men/prison record reduces wages: Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Princeton University.

College tuition and Pell Grants: The College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2003.”

Poor students and college attendance: U.S. Department of Education, Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid. Empty Promises: They Myth of College Access in America. June 2002.

Consumer Price Index up 25%: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics “Consumer Price Index”tag” May 17, 2006; History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Milk price comparison: Double Jeopardy, Why the Poor Pay More, Advocasey, Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Brooklyn bodegas: New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Eating In, Eating Out, Eating Well: Access to Healthy Food in North and Central Brooklyn.”

Corn subsidies and prices of soda and fruit: USDA, “The corporate jet: Necessity or ultimate executive toy?”tag USA Today, April 26, 2005, and Morgan Stanley Proxy Statement February 2006.

NIH spending per capita: National Institutes of Health “Estimates of Funding for Various Diseases, Conditions, Research Areas”; CDC “Reported Cases of Lyme Disease by Year”.

Federal housing subsidies to households earning more than $77,000: Cushing N. Dolbeare and Sheila Crowley, “Changing Priorities: The Federal Budget and Housing Assistance, 1976-2007.”tag August 2002.

HUD’s budget has declined by 65%: Cushing N. Dolbeare and Sheila Crowley, “Changing Priorities: The Federal Budget and Housing Assistance, 1976-2007″tag August 2002; National Low Income Housing Coalition Tabulations of FY 2007 Budget.

Sub-prime mortgages have risen tenfold: Edward Gramlich, “Subprime Mortgage Lending: Benefits, Costs, and Challenges” May 21, 2004.

1 in 4 sub-prime lenders are predatory: Coalition for Responsible Lending, “Quantifying the Economic Cost of Predatory Lending” 2001.

80% of sub-prime mortgages carry prepayment penalties: Coalition for Responsible Lending, “Quantifying the Economic Cost of Predatory Lending” 2001.

Number of pawnshops has increased by 142%: Ellen Seidman and Jennifer Tescher, “From Unbanked to Homeowner: Improving the Supply of Financial Services for Low-Income, Low-Asset Customers” 2004.

Households without checking and bank accounts: Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University, “To Bank or Not to Bank: A Survey of Low Income Households,” Christopher Berry, February 2004.

Check-cashing outlets in Chicago: Annie E. Casey Foundation 2000.

Check-cashing fees: “Ford Foundation Report,” Fall 2004.

Payday lending outlets up by 11,000%: Michael Barr, “Banking the Poor” 2004.

Average interest rate on payday loan is more than 400%: Center for Responsible Lending, “Quantifying the Economic Cost of Predatory Payday Lending” 2004.

Rent-to-own stores avoid usury laws: New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Press Release, 2001.

Number of ATMs: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco New ATM Study Details a Paradoxical Industry, December 2005.

Number of gambling machines: William N. Thompson, Professor, Department of Public Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Brotherly Love?: “The Price is Wrong” Brookings Institution, April 2005.

Credit card late fees are 194% higher: Cardweb, “Late Fees” August 5, 2005.

Credit card balance: Demos and the Center for Responsible Lending, “The Plastic Safety Net” 2005.

$900 million on tax prep and check cashing fees: Consumer Federation of America Quick Tax Loans Skim Billions from Taxpayer Refunds, February 2006.

1 in 7 claim the EITC: IRS Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Program Effectiveness and Program Management FY 2002-03 August 2003.

IRS protected $3.1 billion in revenue: Mihir Desai, “The Divergence Between Book and Tax Income,” October 2002.

Tension between rich and poor: New York Times May 15, 2005 Class Matters.

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It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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