Many Americans are pinching pennies, exhausted by high prices and stubborn inflation. The well-off are spending with abandon. 

The top 10% of earners—households making about $250,000 a year or more—are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets.

Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record in data going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%.

All this means that economic growth is unusually reliant on rich Americans continuing to shell out. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated that spending by the top 10% alone accounted for almost one-third of gross domestic product. 

Between September 2023 and September 2024, the high earners increased their spending by 12%. Spending by working-class and middle-class households, meanwhile, dropped over the same period. 

Read it all.

Households making $250,000+ now account for 49.7% of all U.S. spending.

"Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%. All this means that economic growth is unusually reliant on rich Americans continuing to shell out."

This chart that accompanies @WSJ's story is striking: https://t.co/uT4cc3Qv05 pic.twitter.com/7gxYPjX4aG

— Marty Swant (@martyswant) February 24, 2025

[Right now there are]…16 million people — that’s 6 percent ofAmerican adults — taking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, and their collective purchasing power has the potential to profoundly reshape the economy in the coming years.

There’s evidence that the demographic of people on the drugs overlaps with those who like to spend, a group some analysts have dubbed “over consumers.” Cutting their daily calorie counts in half — or more — is resulting in all sorts of interesting consequences still coming to light.

Ozempic, and its GLP-1 cousins Mounjaro, Wegovy and Zepbound, may not be the lightbulb, jet airplane or internet, but their impact is expected to be so significant that Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, predicts that if 60 million people take the medications by 2028, GDP would be boosted by 1 percent — or several trillion dollars. Hatzius’s analysis was based primarily on the idea that healthier people mean a healthier workforce and, in turn, lower health-care costs.

But there’s a lot more to it.

Read it all.

Weight-loss drugs aren’t just slimming waists. They’re shifting the economy. https://t.co/y9Ikk6SLxr

— Nick Baumann (@NickBaumann) February 23, 2025

Almighty God, who didst raise up thy servant John Roberts to be a witness among the Shoshone and Arapahoe peoples: May we, inspired by his example and prayers, invite all people to the riches of thy grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates John Roberts, Priest, 1949 http://t.co/bXvS8Q7isu pic.twitter.com/70CSxyzpYz

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) February 25, 2015

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers, and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Good morning. A nice sunrise just now in County Antrim @Louise_utv @angie_weather @bbcniweather pic.twitter.com/e2p8hWD7Dw

— Sharon Welby📷 (@sharonwelby1) February 25, 2025

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 121:7-8

A Gentle Wander On The Wolds. 9°C and a keen Westerly. Blackbirds. pic.twitter.com/SgFAfjK8Kt

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) February 25, 2025