The critics will say, "well, wait a minute. People did they" they have a television set, they have a cell phone, and you're calling them poor?' But, and this is true, the definition can't remain the same, can't be held constant through the decades. It really has to change. It's true that someone labelled as poor at the turn of the Eighteen Hundreds [1800s] to the Nineteen Hundreds [1900s], didn't have many extras, but that's not the case today. And nor could they survive today without them.
Rob Kall: But I can't seem to nail you down on a percentage of Americans who are middle class now. Compare that to, say the peak that you cite in Nineteen Seventy Nine [1979]. Of jobs in America,are there any percentages or numbers that you can throw at us, that would give some context?
James Steele: We have in the book, and if...
Donald Barlett: I can't put my finger on it.
James Steele: And it's" I think we use the term forty five[45] million in the book. I think it's 45 million in the book that we consider the heart of the middle class. And the fact that the middle class is shrinking, I mean there's"
Donald Barlett: There's no debate on that.
James Steele: In fact there's a recent survey by the Pew Foundation, that's got an awful lot of ink. And more people fell out of middle class in the last ten years than any other time in American history. So the fact that, you know the middle class is hurting, shrinking, I think is pretty widely established at this point.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
