Free Republic

What does it take to be middle class in America? The timely answer seems to be not home ownership or a college education, but a good job. In a survey released late last month, 86 percent of the 2,000-plus Americans polled by the Pew Research Center put a secure job at the top of their list of requirements to qualify for the middle class. The next most-popular answer was health insurance, which made the list for 66 percent of respondents in the survey, conducted in July. Owning a home was considered a sign of membership in the middle class by...

Fresh figures on the US jobs market come out Friday, with a lot more than usual riding on them: new stimulus from Federal Reserve, and the poll numbers for President Barack Obama as he fights to keep his job. With the employment situation stagnant this year -- the jobless rate is stuck at a high 8.3 percent -- the new data for August could say a lot about the strength of the economy, as it weathers a global downturn and a domestic stalemate on economic policy. Chances are, economists say, the numbers will fall in the tepid range of July....