Yes - The Middle Class In Shrinking In The U.S.

Democrats have been warning Americans for years now that the Republican economic policies are bad for American workers. Those policies favor the rich at the expense of other Americans. As the chart above shows (from the Pew Research Center), those policies have resulted in a shrinking of the middle class.

In 1971, before the GOP re-instituted their "trickle-down" economic policies, about 61% of Americans fell into the middle class income category. That has now been reduced to 51% or 52% -- a drop of 9 to 10 points. If we don't vote the Republicans out of power and change the economic policy to one fairer to all Americans, the middle class will continue to shrink (and the lower income class will continue to grow).

The second chart shows the income level needed to be considered middle class in the country as a whole (according to family size. For instance, a family of three would be considered middle class with a salary of at least $45,195.

Of course, not every community is the same, and it takes more to be labeled as middle class in some communities than others.

Which category does your family fall into -- lower income, middle income, or higher income? If you would like to know where you rate, the Pew Research Center has a tool to let you find out (in your own particular community). You can go here to access the tool.