More Americans see middle class status slipping

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/2014/04/02/3405829/more-americans-see-middle-class.html?sp=/99/171/



n this March 11, 2014 frame grab taken from video, Jeremy Horning speaks to a reporter in Southfield, Mich. Horning returned to school after losing his job as a logistics manager at a warehouse. Horning now works part time at a call in center.

More Americans see middle class status slipping
By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER
AP Economics Writer
April 2, 2014 Updated 4 hours ago

WASHINGTON — A sense of belonging to the middle class occupies a cherished place in America. It conjures images of self-sufficient people with stable jobs and pleasant homes working toward prosperity.

Yet nearly five years after the Great Recession ended, more people are coming to the painful realization that they're no longer part of it.

They are former professionals now stocking shelves at grocery stores, retirees struggling with rising costs and people working part-time jobs but desperate for full-time pay. Such setbacks have emerged in economic statistics for several years. Now they're affecting how Americans think of themselves.

Since 2008, the number of people who call themselves middle class has fallen by nearly a fifth, according to a survey in January by the Pew Research Center, from 53 percent to 44 percent. Forty percent now identify as either lower-middle or lower class compared with just 25 percent in February 2008.

[KoKo]

1. Thank You for posting this here...

We Progressives need to look beyond NYC/Silicon Valley/DC/VA and Oil/Tar Sands Suburbs in Montana and Gulf Coast" to see the Health of America... For the rest of the people.

For ALL OF US. Govt. and Corporations "Pay us Off" for the Disasters....but more and more Disasters means that Govt. can only go so far...before the "victims" are cut off from the "pay offs."

We need to Move Beyond this.....