HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Census: Middle Class Incomes Fall Again.

President Obama employs some of the best political stone soup makers in memory, but even they’re having trouble with this one. On Wednesday’s terrible Census Bureau findings on income and poverty, the White House put out a statement saying the report shows “we have made progress digging our way out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” even if “too many families are still struggling.”

Oh? Such progress includes median household income falling by $777 to $50,054 in 2011, a decline of 1.5% in real terms and the second in two years. This measure of middle-class incomes is 8.1% lower than in 2007. . . . Meanwhile, 46.2 million Americans live in poverty, a near-record high at 15% and also unchanged since last year. They’ll be happy to know the White House considers this progress.

How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for ya?

Related: Downward Mobility: One-Third Of Americans In ‘Lower Classes’ Since Obama Took Office. “According to the Pew Research Center, Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower-class has risen from 25 percent to 32 percent in the past four years, in the national survey of 2,508 adults. Not only has the lower class grown, but its demographic profile also has shifted. People younger than 30 are disproportionately swelling the ranks of the self-defined lower classes. The shares of Hispanics and whites who place themselves in the lower class also are growing. . . . Many in the lower class see their prospects dimming. About three-quarters (77%) say it’s harder now to get ahead than it was 10 years ago.”