[FITZ]

I think 75% could be high --- however there are different definitions of middle class and it might depend on which is used. I think Limbaugh said about 33% were poor and the rest are middle and upper middle class. Also I think even though many have climbed into the middle class, high single-motherhood makes it a more fragile middle class.

[Huck]

Well, I tried to look it up, but most of the census stuff is pdf, which is a hassle. The guy who posted the 75% number is boycotting me.

[SauronOfMordor]

I think 75% could be high --- however there are different definitions of middle class and it might depend on which is used.

The problem is that the whole discussion of "class" was gotten going by Marx, and he never really defined his terms very well. The middle class were the people between the "wealthy" and the "working class"

The operational definition I go by goes something like this:

• If you work for a living, and have enough to pay the rent on an apartment and cheap transport to work, then you're working class
• If you make enough to own significant property (your own home or condo, a late-model car, a stock portfolio to be your retirement nest egg), and you can occasionally purchase the services of others to make your life easy (cleaning lady to come in on the weekend, guy to mow the lawn, going out to restaurant's and letting somebody else do the cooking) then you are middle-class
• If you have enough assets that you can maintain a middle-class standard of living without working, and have one or more full-time employee/servants then you are wealthy