The Decline of the American Middle Class

“The recent economic crisis left the median American family in 2010 with no more wealth than in the early 1990s, erasing almost two decades of accumulated prosperity, the Federal Reserve said Monday. [...]The new data comes from the Fed’s much-anticipated release on Monday of its Survey of Consumer Finances, a report issued every three years that is one of the broadest and deepest sources of information about the financial health of American families. While the numbers are already 18 months old, the survey illuminates problems that continue to slow the pace of the economic recovery. The Fed found that middle-class families had sustained the largest percentage losses in both wealth and income during the crisis, limiting their ability and willingness to spend.”.

Federal Reserve Bulletin, June, 2012: Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (PDF, 80 pages)

Special to CNN, June 13, 2012: “Why middle class has taken a big hit”, by Dean Baker, economist and director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

The Atlantic, June 13, 2012: “How Badly Has Obama Alienated the Middle Class?”, by Michael Hirsh

CNNMoney, June 12, 2012: “Family net worth plummets nearly 40%”, by Charles Riley

Salon, June 12, 2012: “Middle-class catastrophe: The Fed releases brutal details on how the crash sucker-punched America. So why won't it do anything?”, by Andrew Leonard

The New York Times, June 11, 2012: “Family Net Worth Drops to Level of Early ’90s, Fed Says”, by Binyamin Appelbaum

University of California, Berkeley, March 2, 2012: “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States” by Emmanuel Saez (PDF, 10 pages)