the: jim tankersley covers economy for "the new york times," and is the author of "the riches of this land." good morning. guest: thank you for having me. host: how do you define the middle class? guest: there are so many ways you can define the middle class. i like to define it as an aspirational set of economic security items that americans want to have to make their lives feel safe and secure. so i do find somebody who is middle-class as somebody who is able to buy their own home, a car, send their kids to school and save for retirement. these are basic comforts that help everyone feel more stable, even through difficult economic times. if you have a job that gives you enough income and you can build enough wealth to get those things, then i think in america we would call you middle-class. the people striving for that security bucket of goods are aspirational middle-class. far back in our history does the use of the term middle-class go to refer to economic success? guest: we think of the middle class as quintessentially american, but it is relatively new term in terms of popular n

build in pennsylvania, jim tankersley. washington fort more than a decade now and i remain stunned at some of the class works.ng i think the frustration with state legislature and local officials. there have been policy failures up and down. they start in washington, i agree with that. i want to comment briefly on his thoughts on the pre-pandemic trump economy. everything bill said was true. the president didn't actually jobs,r the major gains in repatriation of jobs from china, or 6% economic growth. if you look at actual growth looks like the second term obama economy. good but noty amazing, not like the late 1990's. started with an economic expansion. really a historically feeble economic expansion. the levels he is able to claim success for were easier to achieve than someone like president bush who came in and inherited an economy falling , evenecession in 2001 before 9/11. true, the frustration is real. we really need to have an economy like our economy was doing before the pandemic. that has been hard for us to achi

joining us now, "new york times" tax and economics reporter, jim tankersley. he riches of this land." jim, what jumps out to you from this jobs report because when i think about people facing evictions at the same time as hamptons homes are now renting for $75,000 and $100,000 a month through the next year, this to me is the ultimate have and have-nots. >> we're absolutely seeing a have and have-nots story in the economy. the jobs report confirmed that the increase for the have-nots is slowing. it's great news that the economy still added jobs in august, but the rate of new job increases now is steadily declining. and this is a worry because the economy has left behind a lot of workers particularly nonwhite workers who have been slow to recover. >> when a president talks about this super v recovery, what do you actually see because, yes, the stock market is going well. for people who own homes, for people who can work from home. but for a huge portion of this country, what does it really look like. >> i think for the huge portion of the country, this looks like

the: jim tankersley covers economy for "the new york times," and is the author of

coming up in an hour, economic reporter jim tankersley on his book about the middle class in the united states. rudolph discusses foreign interference in campaign 2020 at 9:15 a.m. ♪ host: following the police killing of a black man, jacob blake, in kenosha, wisconsin, and a week of protest and violence, president trump went to kenosha yesterday to meet with law enforcement and tour the damage. he reiterated his campaign theme of law & order. good morning. this is washington journal. we will spend the first hour getting your views on the campaign message on law & order. is it working? the lines for those of you supporting former vice president joe biden is (202) 748-8000

build in pennsylvania, jim tankersley.hington fort more than a decade now and i remain stunned at some of the class works.ng i think the frustration with state legislature and local officials. there have been policy failures up and down. they start in washington, i agree with that. i want to comment briefly on his thoughts on the pre-pandemic trump economy. everything bill said was true. the president didn't actually jobs,r the major gains in repatriation of jobs from china, or 6% economic growth. if you look at actual growth looks like the second term obama economy. good but noty amazing, not like the late 1990's. started with an economic expansion. really a historically feeble economic expansion. the levels he is able to claim success for were easier to achieve than someone like president bush who came in and inherited an economy falling , evenecession in 2001 before 9/11. true, the frustration is real. we really need to have an economy like our economy was doing before the pandemic. that has been hard for us to achieve.