{"id":135186,"date":"2025-02-25T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=135186"},"modified":"2025-02-24T17:47:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T22:47:48","slug":"wsj-the-u-s-economy-depends-more-than-ever-on-the-top-two-quintiles-of-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=135186","title":{"rendered":"(WSJ) The U.S. Economy Depends More Than Ever on the Top Two Quintiles of the Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many Americans are pinching pennies, exhausted by high prices and stubborn inflation<\/a>. The well-off are spending with abandon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top 10% of earners\u2014households making about $250,000 a year or more\u2014are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record in data going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody\u2019s Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this means that economic growth is unusually reliant on rich Americans continuing to shell out. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody\u2019s Analytics, estimated that spending by the top 10% alone accounted for almost one-third of gross domestic product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between September 2023 and September 2024, the high earners increased their spending by 12%. Spending by working-class and middle-class households, meanwhile, dropped <\/em>over the same period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

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<\/a>'s story is striking: https:\/\/t.co\/uT4cc3Qv05<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7gxYPjX4aG<\/a><\/p>— Marty Swant (@martyswant) February 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>