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.

Only about one-third of American families will surpass their parents in wealth and income and climb to a new rung on the economic ladder, a new study out today from The Pew Charitable Trusts concludes.

A trip to the dentist's office may instill a sense of dread, but for the majority Americans, access to care is rarely an issue. For roughly one-third of the population, though, finding a dentist can seem next to impossible.

Michigan could save millions of dollars in its nearly $2 billion Corrections budget by shaving the prison terms of inmates. more

The enormous strain prison costs put on state budgets has led some conservatives and liberals to do something sensible together. more

Now to a story about your money and maybe your bank. Some of the new regulations on banks have been eating into their profits so they're finding new ways to make money from the people who put their money in the bank.

Even as the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau weighs whether to address bank overdraft fees that cost U.S. consumers nearly $30 billion last year, some of those fees continue to inch up, according to new reports by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Consumer Federation of America.