My EDC Bag

Angry Prepper: “Hello You Tubers, this is the Angry Prepper.What you guys are staring out is my EDC. I know some of you are thinking, “This is a very big EDC Bag”, but I also carry other items such as my lap top & paper work for my business. I also carry books in there. Mainly survival books because you are always learning something new in this field. So having an EDC comes in handy pretty much no matter where you live , but I find that living here in the city it is of great value. Using the trade center just as an example, a lot of people had to walk home. So with that, having an EDC with a water bottle in it and a flash light for those who were walking a long distance or no flashlight for those stuck in a tunnel would of came in handy. The medical kit, the little black square object you see there, would of also came in handy on a day like that. So my suggestion is that everybody should get some kind of every day carry together. Whether it is a little square pouch like the medical kit you see in front of you, a book bag or a bag you have at home or something as big as what I carry.”

“The items you see here are a water bottle, the black medical kit, a flashlight, a folding knife, baby powder. A multi-function, radio flashlight, hand crank device. Which is the black and green made by Eton. It’s called a scorpion. I also carry a collapsible baton for either self defense or should you need to break a window or two to get out of a situation. Anyways, an EDC bag doesn’t have to be this big. You should modify to your needs.”

“I hope you guys enjoyed this short video. 

Pet Preparedness in a Disaster

Everybody should have an emergency plan in the event of unforeseen disaster. And if you’re a pet owner, your disaster preparedness should consider their health, safety, and well-being as well. It may seem obvious, but not everybody thinks of it. So here’s a list of tips for pet owners to consider when making emergency preparedness plans. 

Any emergency preparedness plan involves starting at the beginning, which is to say, consider based on climate, topography, and geography, which types of disasters are most likely, and plan accordingly. For example, if you live in an area that is prone to certain natural disasters, such as tornadoes, earthquakes or floods, the majority of your preparations should be specific to those kinds of events. In many cases the safest thing to do in an emergency is to stay home so let’s consider some tips for ensuring safety in the home.

Being prepared in the home

• Determine the most structurally sound buildings and make those your safe havens. These will be rooms that are free of hazards such as windows, and excessive shelves along the walls.
• Utility rooms, bathrooms and basements are typically good safe zones because they are easy to clean and they offer access to water, provided that plumbing systems aren’t compromised. Access to fresh water is important.
• If flooding is one of the more likely disasters in your area, pick the highest location in your home as a safe haven. Either that or a room with access to counters or high shelves where pets can take refuge.

Be able to identify your pet in case something happens

• If your pet is lost in the chaos of an emergency, his or her ID tags are their ticket home. Make sure all tags are up-to-date and securely fastened to their collar. If possible, attach the address and/or phone number of your evacuation site. Also consider micro-chipping your pets.
• Keep a current photo of your pet in your emergency essentials kit.
• Included your cell phone number on your pet’s personalized collar or tags

You’re the caretaker so an emergency for you is an emergency for them

Not only is it important for you to prepare your own emergency food storage, and supplies, it’s also important to prepare an emergency kit specific to your pets needs, like a blanket made of fleece fabric for them to sleep on. Here are a few other items you might want to include: 

Pet food

Bottled water

Medications

Veterinary records

Cat litter/pan

Manual can opener

Food dishes

First aid kit and other medical supplies

Find a place to stay in advance

When an emergency occurs, public health concerns take precedence over most other things. Sometimes those public health concerns mean pets are excluded from consideration. That’s why it’s important to identify a place to stay in advance. Some emergency shelters are not allowed to accept pets as occupants. Here are some tips to consider. 

• Locate motels and hotels in your immediate area that allow pets well in advance of needing them. There are guides that list hotels and motels according to which ones are pet-friendly. 
• Include your local animal shelter in your list of emergency numbers. 
• Keep a secure pet carrier on hand, as well as a leash and/or harness to make sure they can’t escape if they panic. 

After the disaster

Pets continue to need special care even after the disaster is over. If the disaster forces you to leave town, you must take your pets with you. They aren’t likely to survive on their own. In the aftermath, pets may be a little rattled for a while and their behavior may change. But, as long as you leash them when they go outside, always maintain close contact while they reacquaint themselves with their environment, and make sure they steer clear of any new hazards they may encounter due to changes caused by the disaster, they should recover in no time at all.

Weathering the Storm: Preparedness Essentials

Even though people living in areas exposed and often afflicted by hurricanes and tornado’s generally are aware of all the precautionary measures, people still do tend to lose lives in these disastrous situations. This is why we’ve come up with an article outlining all the necessary preparations for weathering a storm.

Food and Water

To start with the most basic of needs, the problem here doesn’t necessarily lie only during the timeline of an actual storm, but for days of craze and distortion that ensue afterwards. Here is what you’ll undoubtedly need:

• One gallon of water per person per day, to last three days at the very least, not only for drinking, but sanitation and other needs, as well.
• Peanut butter – this product is quite long-lasting
• Protein bars
• Fruit – you’ll need your vitamins, especially in potentially exhausting situations such as this
• Canned food, such as fruits, vegetables, meats (tuna), canned beans, etc.
• Canned juices – this is a great source of sugar, as well as liquid that your body might need
• Crackers – yet another type of food that can last for ages
• Non-perishable milk
• Dry cereal
• Other foods that do not require refrigeration or cooking

First Aid Kit

This, of course goes without saying, seeing as how injuries are a frequent occurrence in situations such as that of a storm. Emergency services will probably be overwhelmed, perhaps even physically unable to reach you. Even minor injuries can cause sepsis and further complications, if not treated within a reasonable time period. Here are your basic first aid essentials:

• Sterile gloves – you wouldn’t want to suffer bacterial infections, especially in instances such as this type of a disaster
• Sterile dressings, quality adhesive bandages
• Antibiotics – whether it’s ointments, or pills, supplements that prevent bacterial infections are of vast importance here.
• Prescription medications – you need to have reserves of necessary pharmaceuticals that you or your family members might potentially require. These include insulin, heart medicine, asthma inhalers (you wouldn’t believe how easy these are to misplace, so you better have at least a couple of these stockpiled within your first aid cabinet).
• Tools such as tweezers and scissors – not only are these absolutely necessary for first aid purposes, but might come in handy for a plethora of impromptu situations
• A whistle – ridiculous as it may sound, these items can turn out to be real life savers – no one laughs at a whistle sound during or after huge storms, no matter how ridiculous it may seem to an observer
• Towels – these have a wide variety of utilization abilities, from preventing bleeding out, to drying off, in order to avoid hypothermia.
• Garbage bags
• When it comes to infants, you’ll need a large number of diapers, to avoid risking infection, as well as an instant formula, for obvious reasons.
• It is smart to have pliers and a wrench, if nothing, than so as to be able to turn off utilities, such as pipes, or age-old electrical equipment.
• Complete change of clothing, enough to last at least 3 days.
• A fire extinguisher for cases of electrical surges
• Matches in a waterproof container

 Other Paraphernalia

• Generators
• Portable toilets
• Fuel tanks – There are many diesel fuel tanks available out there, so make sure you have this covered
• Cook stoves
• Batteries (it is smart to have these in all sizes available)
• Flashlights
• Duct tape
• Candles
• Sleeping bags
• Rubber boots

These cover most of your essential needs for a storm, as well as other types of a disaster. Make sure you have all these covered and thus insure you remain safe and healthy. Of course, a bit of extra consideration might go a long way in helping you weather the worst of weather conditions out there, so feel free to add a couple of your own ideas to the list.

Winter solstice 2015: Everything you need to know about the shortest day of the year

Google's new Doodle celebrates the December solstice, marking the longest night and shortest day of the year with the sun at its lowest point in the sky 

What exactly is the winter solstice? 

The December solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. This year the solstice occured on Tuesday December 22nd at 04:49 GMT (Universal time) with the sun rising over Stonehenge in Wiltshire at 08:04. 

How long to wait until the longest day of the year 2016: 

177	:	00	:	07	:	10
Days		Hrs		Mins		Secs

The winter solstice happens every year when the Sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, when the North Pole is tilted furthest – 23.5 degrees – away from the Sun, delivering the fewest hours of sunlight of the year. 

The Sun is directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere during the December solstice and is closer to the horizon than at any other time in the year, meaning shorter days and longer nights. 

The shortest day of the year lasts for 7 hours 49 minutes and 41 seconds in Britain. This day is 8 hours, 49 minutes shorter than on June Solstice. 

The day after the winter solstice marks the beginning of lengthening days, leading up to the summer solstice in June. 

In the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true. Dawn comes early, and dusk comes late. The sun is high and the shortest noontime shadow of the year happens there. In the Southern Hemisphere, people will experience their longest day and shortest night. 

Shouldn't it be on December 21st? 

While it more often than not falls on December 21st, the exact time of the solstice varies each year. 

^{Sunrise between the stones at Stonehenge on the Winter Solstice in 1985 Photo: Mark Grant}

In the Northern hemisphere the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, because it is tilted away from the sun, and receives the least amount of sunlight on that day. 

However, the earliest sunset does not occur on the solstice, because of the slight discrepancy between 'solar time' and the clocks we use. 

The shortest day of the year often falls on December 21st, but the modern calendar of 365 days a year - with an extra day every four years - does not correspond exactly to the solar year of 365.2422 days. 

The solstice can happen on December 20, 21, 22 or 23, though December 20 or 23 solstices are rare. 

The last December 23 solstice was in 1903 and will not happen again until 2303. 

Why do people descend on Stonehenge for the winter solstice? 

Scores arrive at the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire to mark the shortest day of the year. Why is the site so important? 

^{People gather at Stonehenge in Wiltshire on the Winter Solstice to witness the sunrise on the shortest day of the year (Eddie Mulholland/The Telegraph)} 

Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument located in Wiltshire, is carefully aligned on a sight-line that points to the winter solstice sunset (opposed to New Grange, which points to the winter solstice sunrise, and the Goseck circle, which is aligned to both the sunset and sunrise). 

Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC and it is thought that the winter solstice was actually more important to the people who constructed Stonehenge than the Summer solstice. 

The winter solstice was a time when cattle was slaughtered (so the animals would not have to be fed during the winter) and the majority of wine and beer was finally fermented. 

The only other megalithic monuments in the British Isles which clearly align with the sun are Newgrange in County Meath, Ireland and Maeshowe situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. 

Both famously face the winter solstice sunrise. 

^{Game of Stones: Some new-age types at the 'Henge (Eddie Mulholland)}

Keep up, Druids... 

In 2009, a crowd wearing traditional costume, met at Stonehenge on December 21st morning to mark the rising of the sun on the shortest day of the year. 

But unfortunately their calculations were slightly out meaning they had in fact arrived 24 hours prematurely. 

• Revellers celebrate the 2014 winter solstice at Stonehenge

The '09 solstice fell at exactly 5.47pm that day, and because the sun had already set, the official celebrations should have taken place at sunrise the next day. 

^{Arthur Pendragon during the winter solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire Photo: PA}

English Heritage, who manage the ancient site in Wiltshire, decided to open the gates anyway and welcome those who had made a miscalculation. 

A spokesman for English Heritage said at the time: "About 300 people turned up a day early. We took pity on them and opened the stone circle so they could celebrate anyway. They were a day early but no doubt had a wonderful time as well. 

"People always assume that because the Summer solstice is the June 21st, the winter solstice will be the 21st December. They should always check because it does change." 

Pagan leader Arthur Pendragon said: "It is the most important day of the year for us because it welcomes in the new sun. 

"There were hundreds of people there. If we'd celebrated on the 21st it would have been the right day but the wrong sun – when the whole point of the occasion is about welcoming in the new sun." 

Why isn’t the earliest sunset on the year’s shortest day? 

Solar noon - the time midway between sunrise and sunset is when the sun reaches its highest point for the day, but the exact time of solar noon, as measured by Earth’s spin, shifts. 

A clock ticks off exactly 24 hours from one noon to the next but actual days – as measured by the spin of the Earth – are rarely exactly 24 hours long. 

^{Winter Solstice by Barbara Hepworth (1970)}

If the Earth’s spin is measured from one solar noon to the next, then one finds that around the time of the December solstice, the time period between consecutive solar noons is actually 30 seconds longer than 24 hours. 

Therefore two weeks before the solstice, for example – the sun reaches its 'noontime' position at 11:52 a.m. local standard time. 

Two weeks later - on the winter solstice – the sun reached that noontime position at 11:59 a.m. - seven minutes later. 

The later clock time for solar noon also means a later clock time for sunrise and sunset. The result? Earlier sunsets before the winter solstice andincreasingly later sunrises for a few weeks after the winter solstice. 

The exact date of earliest sunset varies with latitude but the sequence is always the same. 

For the Northern Hemisphere the earliest sunset occurs in early December and the latest sunrise in happens in early January. This year earliest sunset was on 13 December and the latest sunrise on 31 December. 

What does 'solstice' mean? 

The term 'solstice' derives from the Latin word 'solstitium', meaning 'Sun standing still'. 

On this day the Sun seems to stand still at the Tropic of Capricorn and then reverses its direction as it reaches its southernmost position as seen from the Earth. 

Some prefer the more teutonic term 'sunturn' to descibe the event. 

There's a Google's Doodle... 

To mark the solstice, Google has done a special Doodle of ice skaters in a snow globe that can be viewed by several countries, including most of Europe, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Japan. 

How can I best watch the solstice where I live? 

There's no need to travel out of town to see the sunrise. 

^{Photo: http://sztanko.github.io/}

This handy website shows the streets in cities around the world where you can get a clear view of the sun rising on the morning of the solstice. 

How was/is the solstice celebrated around the world? 

The December solstice marks the 'turning of the Sun' as the days slowly get longer. Celebrations of the lighter days to come have been common throughout history with feasts, festivals and holidays around the December solstice celebrated by cultures across the globe. 

Saturnalia 

The winter solstice festival Saturnalia began on December 17 and lasted for seven days in In Ancient Rome. 

These Saturnalian banquets were held from as far back as around 217 BCE to honor Saturn, the father of the gods. 

The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum, and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms. 

The festival was characterised as a free-for-all when all discipline and orderly behaviour was ignored. 

Wars were interrupted or postponed, gambling was permitted, slaves were served by their masters and all grudges and quarrels were forgotten. 

^{Saturnalia by Antoine-Francois Callet (1741-1823) Photo: Oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre}

It was traditional to offer gifts of imitation fruit (a symbol of fertility), dolls (symbolic of the custom of human sacrifice), and candles (reminiscent of the bonfires traditionally associated with pagan solstice celebrations). 

The Saturnalia would degenerate into a week-long orgy of debauchery and crime – giving rise to the modern use of the term 'saturnalia', meaning a period of unrestrained license and revelry. A mock 'king' was even chosen from a group of slaves or convicts and was allowed to behave as he pleased for seven days (until his eventual ritual execution). 

The poet Catullus considered it to be "the best of days." 

Feast of Juul 

The Feast of Juul (where we get the term 'Yule' from at this time of year) was a pre-Christian festival observed in Scandinavia at the time of the December solstice. 

People would light fires to symbolise the heat and light of the returning sun and a Juul (or Yule) log was brought in and dropped in the hearth as a tribute the Norse god Thor. 

The Yule Log often was an entire tree, carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony and sometimes, the largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth, while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room. 

^{The Yule log is introduced to the proceedings}

The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year's log which had been carefully stored away and often slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. Tradition dictated that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands. 

The log was burned until nothing but ash remained. The ashes were then collected and either strewn on the fields as fertilizer every night until Twelfth Night or kept as a charm and or as medicine. 

A piece of the log was kept as both a token of good luck and as kindling for the following year’s log. 

French peasants believed that if the ashes were kept under the bed, they would protect the house against thunder and lightning. The present-day custom of lighting a Yule log at Christmas is believed to have originated in the bonfires associated with the feast of Juul. 

Yalda 

Yalda or Shab-e Chelleh ('night of forty') is an Iranian festival celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year," i.e. the night of the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice. 

Every year, on December 21st, Iranians celebrate the arrival of winter, the renewal of the sun and the victory of light over darkness on Yalda Night. 

Ancient Iranians believed that the dawning of each year is marked with the re-emergence or rebirth of the sun, an event which falls on the first day of the month of Dey in the Iranian calendar (December 21). 

On this day, the sun was salvaged from the claws of the devil, which is represented by darkness, and gradually spread its rays all over the world to symbolize the triumph of good over evil.Family members get together (most often in the house of the eldest member) and stay awake all night long in Yalda. 

^{Photo: Saman Aghvami}

Pomegranate, watermelon and dried nuts are served as a tradition and classic poetry and old mythologies are read in the gathering. 

It is believed that eating watermelons on the night of Chelleh will ensure the health and well-being of the individual during the months of summer by protecting him from falling victim to excessive heat or disease. 

In Khorasan, there is a belief that whoever eats carrots, pears, pomegranates, and green olives will be protected against the harmful bite of insects, especially scorpions. Eating garlic on this night protects one against pains in the joints. 

Getting a ‘Hafez reading’ from the book of great Persian poet Shamsu d-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi is also practiced. 

Another custom performed in certain parts of Iran on the night of Chelleh involves young engaged couples. The men send an edible arrangement containing seven kinds of fruits and a variety of gifts to their fiancees on this night. 

In some areas, the girl and her family return the favour by sending gifts back for the young man. 

Central Asian countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and some Caucasian states such as Azerbaijan and Armenia share the same tradition as well and celebrate Yalda Night annually at this time of the year. 

Santo Tomas in Guatemala 

December 21 in St Thomas's Day in the Christian calendar. In Guatemala on this day, Mayan Indians indulge in the ritual known as the Palo Volador, or “flying pole dance”. 

Three men climb on top of a 50-foot pole as one of them beats a drum and plays a flute. The other two men wind a rope attached to the pole around one foot and jump. 

^{Mayan Indians take part in the Palo Volador in Guatemala Photo: Alamy} 

If they land on their feet, it is believed that the sun god will be pleased and that the days will start getting longer. 

The ancient Incas celebrated a special festival to honour the sun god at the time of the December solstice. 

In the 16th century ceremonies were banned by the Roman Catholics in their bid to convert the Inca people to Christianity. 

A local group of Quecia Indians in Cusco, Peru, revived the festival in the 1950s. It is now a major festival that begins in Cusco and proceeds to an ancient amphitheatre a few miles away.

What You Need to Know About Eating Insects for Survival

More than 2 billion people worldwide eat insects on a regular basis, from toasted ants served like popcorn in South American movie theaters to centipedes sold on a stick as street food in China. But for most of us folks here in the U.S., just thinking about eating a bug is enough to quash an appetite. Then again, we might feel differently in a survival situation, where insects could be the only thing standing between us and going hungry.

Of course, it’s not as simple as chowing down on whatever bugs you can find. Let’s take a look at what you need to know to stay safe (and maybe even enjoy your food) if you’re ever forced to eat insects for survival.

What to Avoid

For starters, you obviously want to avoid poisonous insects, which could leave you worse than just hungry. How can you tell which are toxic? Short of learning how to identify poisonous species, paying attention to nature’s signals can tell you a lot.

For example, if you pick up an insect and notice a nasty smell, you should take that as a warning sign that it may be poisonous. And just as the bright colors of Amazonian poison dart frogs act as a warning for predators, you’d also be better off avoiding brightly colored insects and caterpillars.

Other signs of danger include hairy bugs and those that bite or sting. That means leaving spiders alone, as well as disease-carrying insects like ticks, mosquitoes and flies. Also, you’ll have to find another food source if you’re allergic to shellfish, which are related to insects.

What to Seek

Luckily for us, there are plenty of insect species good for eating. You might find they don’t taste that bad if you can roast or even fry them first.

Ants are a popular food in many parts of the world, but you should avoid fire ants (which can bite back). Just put a stick into an anthill and wait for ants to crawl all over it, then shake the stick off into a container.

Larvae, grubs and termites are also great sources of protein. You won’t have to dig too deep in the dirt to find grubs, and you can easily find larvae and other insects by looking under rocks, decaying logs and loose bark.

While not technically an insect, earthworms are edible and easy to spot. You’ll find them after a good rain. When it’s wet, just dig a small hole and wait for the drowned earthworms to collect in it. Some say worms taste like dirt and sand (that’s what they eat, after all), but you can make them more palatable by squeezing out the dirt with your fingers and/or cooking them before eating.

Some of the most popular edible insects across the world include grasshoppers, crickets, locusts and cicadas. They’re best roasted, but feel free to remove their heads, feet and wings first because the protein is mostly in the abdomen.

Finally, June bugs are also a safe choice. Since they’re larger, they tend to have more protein than smaller insects.

How Many Do You Need?

An important thing to remember when you’re foraging for bugs is that while they’re rich in protein, they’re also very small. That means you’ll need to eat more than just one or two to stave off hunger and weakness.

The average person needs roughly 50 grams of protein daily if they aren’t doing a lot of physical activity. What does that amount to in bug terms? You would need to eat 20,000 ants, while you’d only need to eat a dozen or so grasshoppers or two dozen earthworms. So, while it may be harder to stomach the bigger insects, you’ll end up needing to eat fewer of them.

If you’re totally disgusted by the idea of eating insects, just remember – we all eat bugs every day, small amounts of which are allowed by the FDA in everything from chocolate to fruit juice to canned vegetables. Plus, you’ll pay big bucks for steamed lobster in a fancy restaurant, but you can eat all the wild insects you want for free.

Middle-class families, pillar of the American dream, are no longer in the majority, study finds...

The nation's middle class, long a pillar of the U.S. economy and foundation of the American dream, has shrunk to the point where it no longer constitutes the majority of the adult population, according to a new major study.

The Pew Research Center report released Wednesday put in sharp relief the nation's increasing income divide, which is certain to be a central issue in the 2016 presidential race. It also highlights how various economic and demographic forces have eroded long-held ideals about maintaining a strong, majority middle class.

Many analysts and policymakers regard the shift as worrisome for economic and social stability. Middle-income households have been the bedrock of consumer spending, and many liberals in particular view the declining middle as part of a troubling trend of skewed income gains among the nation's richest families.

Median-income voters, particularly non-college-educated men, are also at the core of billionaire Donald Trump's surprising surge in the Republican presidential campaign. His supporters' sense that their once-secure middle-class standing is in danger of slipping appears to be fueling much of the anger against the government and immigrant groups.

The tipping point for the middle class occurred over the last couple of years of the recovery from the Great Recession as the economy continued to reward highly educated workers, well-to-do investors and those with technical skills.

Rapid growth of upper-income households, coupled with an increase in less-educated low earners, has driven the decline of the middle-income population to a hair below 50% of the total this year, Pew found. In 1971, the middle class accounted for 61% of the population, and it has been declining steadily since.

The Pew research found that the shares of upper-income and lower-income households grew in recent years as the middle shrank — with the higher-income tier growing more. In that sense, the nonpartisan group said, “the shift represents economic progress.”

Pew defined middle class as households earning two-thirds to twice the overall median income, after adjusting for household size. A family of three, for example, would be considered middle income if its total annual income ranged from about $42,000 to $126,000. Pew analyzed data from the Census Bureau and the Labor Department, as well as the Federal Reserve.

Most Americans have traditionally identified themselves as middle class, even those at the top and bottom, reflecting a kind of cultural heritage tied to the American dream of self-reliance. But the Great Recession and subsequent slow recovery have shaken that image.

A Gallup survey this spring showed that just 51% of U.S. adults considered themselves middle or upper middle class, with 48% saying they are part of the lower or working class. As recently as 2008, 63% of those polled by Gallup said they were middle class.

This change in self-identification — and the reality of the shift documented by Pew — carries political ramifications as the state of the middle class continues to be a major focus of the economic debate in the presidential campaigns, with candidates, in time-honored fashion, invoking the middle class in their speeches and policy statements. President Obama has dubbed his programs “middle-class economics.”

Patrick Egan, a politics professor at New York University, says the Pew findings and the Gallup surveys suggest that the public may be more open to policies of redistribution.

“Americans are always kind of reluctant to embrace open class warfare,” Egan said. But “if more Americans are under the idea of placing themselves at the bottom, you'll see politicians follow.”

Although the median incomes of upper, lower and middle tiers have all lost ground since 2000, primarily because of the Great Recession in late 2007 to mid-2009, upper-income households saw the smallest decline through 2014, the Pew study found.

Seen over a longer period, from 1971 to 2014, the median income of all upper-income households increased 47% to $174,625. The median income for the middle tier rose 34% to $73,392, and for the lower income group, it was up 28% to $24,074. The median marks the halfway point.

Pew's findings add to strong evidence that the middle class has been thinned partly by a decline in manufacturing due to competition from imports as well as a broader polarization of jobs that has favored the most educated and technically skilled workers.

Elizbeth Espinoza and her husband, Carlos Arceo, both 38, fall squarely in the middle class, according to Pew. The Downey couple, who have two children, ages 4 and 6, gross about $110,000 between them, not counting benefits, such as healthcare insurance. By Pew's definition, a household of four is in the middle tier if total income is $48,347 to $145,041.

But Espinoza, who works as a student programming coordinator at the UCLA Labor Center, sees her family as barely straddling the middle class. The reason: high living costs, including $850 a month for child care and hefty student loan payments.

“I'm on the border of middle class, and I feel this way because I feel like being part of the middle class means being comfortable financially, and I think we struggle with that,” Espinoza said. “When you look at that
expense-to-income ratio,
it's just a lot more difficult
to have that comfortableness.”

Espinoza said that she and her husband were hopeful about their future incomes rising, but she doubts that they can move up to the upper-income tier. “I feel like upward mobility keeps getting harder and harder,” she said.

The Pew study did not address economic mobility — an issue that many economists believe is more important than the change in income distribution. But research on income mobility across generations has found the U.S. as a whole lags behind other Western countries.

The declining middle also reflects demographic shifts, such as the arrival of more low-skilled immigrants, which can be seen in the overall slippage of Latinos in the income ladder since 1971. By race, black adults made the biggest strides in income status from 1971 to 2015, although they are significantly less likely to be middle income compared with adults overall.

At the same time, the increase of women in the workforce since the early 1970s has tended to boost household incomes, as has higher college education enrollment. And of course, strong gains from stocks and high-tech ventures have fueled incomes for some.

As of this year, 9% of Americans are in what Pew called the highest-income category — up from 4% in 1971 and 5% in 1991. A household with three people had to have an income of more than $188,000 last year to be in this highest bracket.

In contrast, the share of American adults in the very lowest income category — a three-person household making less than $31,000 — rose to 20% of the U.S. adult population this year from 16% in 1971.

“The distribution of adults by income is thinning in the middle and bulking up at the edges,” Pew said.

Whether this trend continues will depend in large part on how household structures evolve. Soaring numbers of single-parent households since the early 1970s, for example, have increased those at the bottom of the income spectrum.

Also, trends in marriage rates, immigration, college education and the labor force participation of lower-skilled men in particular will all have a bearing on the future of the middle class in America, said Harry Holzer, an economist and public policy professor at Georgetown University.

The Pew findings, however, are not comforting, he said. “It does suggest, even when you adjust for demographics, it's a little troubling,” Holzer said. “We always expect things to be getting better.”