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Why are so many Americans mired in debt, going bankrupt, and worried about the economy? To many observers, the answer is simple: middle-class families have embarked on a reckless spending spree, confident that they will be bailed out by the government when the day of reckoning arrives. Warren and Tyagi throw cold water on this condescending chorus. As they convincingly demonstrate, middle-class complaints have a solid basis: even as women's contributions to family income have …

…help the middle class can be firmly grounded in what Alexis de Tocqueville once called "self-interest rightly understood"--in our common interest in a strong economy that serves ordinary Americans, rather than in the reluctant obligations of the advantaged toward those who have less. In my view, guaranteeing broad social insurance for Americans who work hard and do right by their families is the place to begin. But wherever we begin, we must begin now