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Picture This: The Middle Class

May 31, 2012
What's a picture perfect way to define the middle class? Your photos of course! Explore how others picture the middle class and upload your own snapshot to our Middle Class Photo Project.

From middle class to working poor

Mar 5, 2012
Steve and Suellen Daniels never imagined that in their mid-50s they would struggle this much.

Cutting savings to the bone

Mar 2, 2012
Marketplace's Wealth and Poverty reporters talked with people from all over the country, and many, regardless of their earning power, had very little in the way of savings.

Where does the middle class begin and end?

Mar 1, 2012
According to Gallup's latest data, about two-thirds of Americans who put themselves as the middle class, and most voters overall are not concerned about the wealth gap.

The middle class? Not what it used to be

Feb 29, 2012
It used to be that the middle class meant "doing well," and reaching the American Dream. What does "middle class" mean these days?

Voices of Wealth and Poverty: In the Middle

Feb 28, 2012
Courtney Kimsey and Jacqueline Byers, in their own words, on how their families manage on the median American income.

What retail earnings are telling us about the economy

Feb 23, 2012
This week we're finding out how department stores have been faring. Macy's and Saks are in good shape; today, Kohl's says its yearly sales rose. Department stores can tell us a lot about the health of the economy -- at least part of it.

For public good, not for profit.

President Obama takes aim at rising inequality

Dec 7, 2011
Yesterday, the president spoke about the loss of the American dream. But just how much is the middle class really shrinking?

Obama invoking Theodore Roosevelt

Dec 6, 2011
The president speaks in Osawatomie, Kansas, where Roosevelt laid out his "square deal" for the middle class in 1910. Obama has a modern day version.