Now, like singles returning to the dating scene, residents of a middle-class swath of the northeast Bronx, which includes Co-op City, are being courted by six candidates vying to fill Mr. Seabrook's seat in a special election.
Across the Hudson River, in a middle-class swath of northeast New Jersey where many people try to live within their means, the last decade seemed to lift everyone's boat more or less equally.
So while we all like to think of ourselves as middle class, the wide swath of people that claim that label only illustrates that we don't really have an accurate idea of what it means.
Not that we need to eat the rich or anything, but in an era of rampant economic crisis affecting the working class and middle class and even swaths of the upper-middle class as well, the fact that the super-rich are still super-rich and big business bonuses may be down but are certainly not out should put all our panties in a bunch.
It includes Greenpoint, with its enclaves of Polish and Italian families and a growing Hispanic population; a large portion of Williamsburg, the home to a large Hasidic community; downtown Brooklyn and affluent Brooklyn Heights; and a swath of middle class, ethnically diverse Park Slope.
Should it be celebrated as a great, equalizing and democratizing communications channel, or should it be feared for destroying privacy and wiping out a large swath of middle class businesses and performers?
He added: "This insurance prohibition will hit a broad swath of the middle class.
Today, 50 million are without insurance, and a large swath of the middle class is barely holding on.
The Kirchners came to power in 2003, on the rough end of Argentina's painful 2002 economic crisis, when a sudden banking collapse left a swath of the middle class see its savings go up in smoke.
Now Democrats say their signature issue of protecting Social Security has resonance not just for the elderly, but also for a broad swath of the middle class that has watched its 401k's and mutual funds lose value.
Vast swaths of the middle class – those just about managing – are overlooked as the parties increasingly focus their attention on those at the top and bottom.
