Before we get to our list of facts, I want to tell you about a dark and dingy room in the basement of the Institute for Social Research building at the University of Michigan

The report, "Payday Lending in America: Who Borrows, Where They Borrow, and Why," is based on an in-depth survey and focus groups with hundreds of payday borrowers around the country, conducted by Pew's Safe Small-Dollar Loan Research Project. more

Many people think of payday loans as a way to cover an unexpected emergency – such as a car repair or medical expense – until your next paycheck comes in. But nearly seven in 10 people who use the short-term, high-fee loans rely on them for recurring, everyday expenses such as rent, food, utilities or car payments. more

Grim findings from a task force come amid further setbacks to the nation's economic health. Jeffrey Brown discusses eroding revenues, state budget cuts and steep pension obligations with former New York Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch, the report's co-chair, and Susan Urahn of the Pew Center on the States.

Gov. Nathan Deal's criminal justice reform council on Monday began its work to find money-saving ways to sentence and manage the state's criminal population.

On economic policy, Barack Obama has left Mitt Romney an opening. The president has responded to a severe, continuing labor market slump with a four-year-old, marginally counterproductive tax increase proposal. more

A pair of interesting charts (via Kevin Drum) were released by the Pew Economic Mobility Program. They do some fancy statistical work to try to do an apples-to-apples comparison of today's 45 year olds with the economic welfare of their parents' generation at 45.