Middle-Class Families: Worse Off Than Ever

We keep getting told the economy is good shape. The reality is different from the rhetoric:

Middle-class families are struggling to pay for a home, health insurance, transportation and their children's college with wages that have not kept pace with higher prices, according to the study by a think tank headed by a former top aide to President Bill Clinton.

Not enough savings:

According to the study, less than a third of all American families have accumulated income equaling three months of their wages. The trend is particularly pronounced among the 60 percent income distribution that makes up the middle class: those with dual incomes earning from $18,500 to $88,030 a year.

Running up debt to pay bills:

To maintain day-to-day consumption, families have taken on a record amount of debt, equal to 126.4 percent of disposable income in the first quarter of 2006, according to the study.

Incomes not enough to pay rents:

American families across the nation are paying an increasingly large portion of their incomes on housing, putting a squeeze on household budgets, according to a published report.