Can someone explain Pelosi's numbers to me?

[sohndrsmith]

Pelosi's full statement (bold/underline text: my emphasis):
Matt Negrin,Politico
07 Dec, 2010
http://www.politico.com/politico44/perm/1210/the_speaker_speaks_8c4c8df8-7cce-497c-83df-f7b817e2fd0e.html

“The tax proposal announced by the president clearly presents the differences between Democrats and Republicans. Any provision must be judged by two criteria: does it create jobs to grow our economy and does it add to the deficit?

“The Democratic provisions will create jobs and help 155 million workers through tax cuts for the middle class, helping working families who are struggling and growing the economy.

“The Republican demands would provide tax cuts to the millionaires and billionaires, fail to create jobs and increase the deficit. And to add insult to injury, the Republican estate tax proposal would help only 39,000 of America’s richest families, while adding about $25 billion more to the deficit.

“Republicans have held the middle class hostage for provisions that benefit only the wealthiest 3 percent, do not create jobs, and add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit.

“We will continue discussions with the president and our Caucus in the days ahead. Democratic priorities remain clear: to provide a tax cut for working families, to promote policies that produce jobs and economic growth, and to assist millions of our fellow Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.”

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Um... US population (total) as of 01 July 2009 was roughly 308 million people.
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=PEP_2009_EST&-mt_name=PEP_2009_EST_G2009_T001

So...
Democratic provisions will help 155 million workers...
That's almost exactly HALF of the total US population per the Census Bureau 2009.

Are the numbers wrong here? Because I don't see this as being so bad (even if the wrong people *also* get something in the deal, which, no, I don't like but I care more about half the country being better off because of it).

[FrenchieCat]

1. The middle class tax cuts that folks no longer notice.........

if the tax cuts were to expire, the majority of middle class families would have to pay an addition $3,000 in taxes. That's a whole lot. Those are some of the folks she is talking about.
They add up to a lot....98% in fact!