Rob Kall: So because there are two of you, maybe you can identify who's speaking first. Just say your first name. Okay? [James agreeing in background]
Okay so I'd like to.. in your book you talk about how in your previous book America: What Went Wrong?, you were accused of being alarmists, and that you actually under-describe what was going to happen and how bad things were going to be. Now, you're describing that, with this devastation of the American Dream and the middle class, there could be a hundred million casualties.
So I think I'd like to start by just getting in depth some definitions of wealth and the middle class, so we can get some baselines.
Donald Barlett: Well, you know everybody has their own definition, but you got to just work within some numbers.
Basically what we did was, we said thirty five to eighty five thousand [$35-85k], this is a job income, would constitute the heart of the middle class. Now an extended middle class might run up to a hundred and fifteen thousand [$115k], maybe a little bit more than that, because if you're working and living in New York that's not going to be a whole lot of money. And so you got to take into account the different sections of the country, but basically it's at thirty five to eighty five thousand [$35-85k], is the heart of the middle class, and then an extended middle class up to a hundred and ten, fifteen thousand [$110-115k].
And all that is really, we took the definition we used for the first book, America: What Went Wrong?, adjusted the salaries for inflation, and that's what we ended up with.
And some people will say that $35 thousand that's not a lot of money, and it's not, but if you're living in a small town in Oklahoma, Missouri, or even Ohio, you can have a middle class lifestyle with that. You can own a home, you can help certainly send your kids to college, and get by.
Rob Kall: And what percentage of the population is middle class?
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