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Is the size of the American middle class shrinking?

Abbreviated Question: 
Is the size of the American middle class shrinking?
Answer: 

The challenge in describing a large economy with more than 300 million people in it is in finding helpful ways to simplify the data.  Economists often measure economic performance by using one very simple statistic: income per capita, which is simply the total value of goods and services produced in an economy in a year divided by the population.  This number shows how much each of us could consume if the total economic production was divided equally.  By this measure the typical worker is doing fine.  Real (adjusted for inflation) GDP per capita increased from around $2