The End of the Middle Class?

Playing by the "rules" no longer works, argues Warren. Getting a college degree and working hard now means living paycheck-to-paycheck and facing the risk of foreclosure:

"Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or just plain out of work. One in nine families can't make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion from pensions and savings, has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million homeowners out on the street."

The answer, Warren suggests, may lie in the Obama Administration's proposal for a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).