Real money. [ music ] this is real money, you are the most important part of the show. Tell me whats on your mind by tweeting me or hit me up on facebook. Most americans agree the middle class is in crisis. Squeezed by years of job lose, rising costs and stagnant wages, 40 of americans say they belong to the middle class, down by 53 in 2008, when the recession hit. There is no accepted definition of what the middle class is, economists define it by income. We define americas middle class as households with incomes of anywhere between 40 and 100,000, based on analysis. That encompasses middle income families with similar dreams and pierations, securing a job, home, health care add to that time off for vacations and the ability to save enough for retirement. They are becoming harder to achieve. Median Household Income in the United States was 53,171 a year in 2012 thats the most recent year for which we have data. Half of all households earn more, half less. This number is 7 lower than i