[bigrun]

Saw this the other day, from the same report....

Middle class share of America's income shrinking.

A study released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center highlights diminished hopes, too, for the roughly 50 percent of adults defined as middle class, with household incomes ranging from $39,000 to $118,000. The report describes this mid-tier group as suffering its ‘‘worst decade in modern history,’’ having fallen backward in income for the first time since the end of World War II.

He said that many middle-income families have taken a big hit in the past decade as health care costs increase, mid-wage jobs disappear due to automation and outsourcing and college tuition mounts for those seeking to build credentials to get better work. In the meantime, more-affluent families have fared better in net worth because they are less dependent than lower-income groups on home property values, which remain shriveled after the housing bust. Wealthier Americans are more likely to be invested in the stock market, which as a whole has been quicker to recover from the downturn.

Who’s to blame: Of the self-described middle-class Americans who say it is more difficult now than it was a decade ago to maintain a standard of living, 62 percent say ‘‘a lot’’ of the blame lies with Congress. About 54 percent say the same about banks and financial institutions, while 47 percent say large corporations, 44 percent point to the Bush administration,** 39 percent cite foreign competition and 34 percent find fault with the Obama administration. About 8 percent say the middle class itself deserves a lot of the blame.Continued...

**I'll vouch for that.

http://www.boston.com/business/perso...MMK/story.html