Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap.

Today's Thursday, August 6th.

Power to much of New York is still out.

Animal Crossing is very much in, based on new Nintendo earnings,

and we're focused on what's left of America's middle class.

Several times this week, we've noted on the show that Washington, D.C. remains deadlocked

on a new stimulus package, with neither Democrats nor Republicans seeming to feel the urgency

of unemployed Americans who aren't sure how to afford their rent, their food, or other

basic necessities.

In case you'd somehow forgotten, unemployment remains a huge problem in this country.

1.2 million new unemployment claims last week, which was the pandemic era's lowest weekly

total, but still, 1.2 million.

Even if we get a big beat tomorrow on July's jobs number,

it's a lagging indicator that won't reflect recent reopening reversals or businesses that

have been paying people with PPP loans that recently ran out. So back to Congress.

Eviction moratoriums? We don't know. Extended unemployment benefits? We don't know.

A new small business loan program or direct checks to taxpayers? We don't know. Extra funding for

schools or local governments? Well, you got it. We don't know. And that uncertainty, that delay,

is having real and possibly long-lasting impacts, particularly on America's middle class, which was already shrinking before the pandemic.

To go deeper on this, I'm pleased to be joined by Jim Tankersley, an economics and tax policy

reporter at the New York Times, an author of a new book about the middle class called The Riches of This Land.

So, Jim, your book talks about the middle class. Since nine out of ten Americans think they're in the middle class, how do you define middle class right now?

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