Since 2022, high income households have been the ones keeping the spending party alive. Supposedly, that same top 10% now covers about 50% of all spending up from 36% back in the mid 90s. (Shoutout to Moody’s Analytics for that math… and yes, it’s been making the rounds in the press.)
And if you want receipts, the Boston Fed literally ran the numbers in 2025 using credit card data. Spoiler alert: the only people really swiping with confidence are the high income folks. Everyone else? Racking up debt like it’s a new Olympic sport, but not exactly adding much to “real” spending.
Source:
https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/us-economy-strength-rich-spending-2c34a571
https://againstnarrative.substack.com/p/no-the-top-10-of-households-are-not?utm_source
https://www.warc.com/content/feed/top-10-of-wealthy-americans-drive-50-of-us-spending/en-GB/10380
https://fortune.com/2025/02/27/consumer-economy-ultra-rich-spending/
https://i.redd.it/cajockrbhzjf1.jpeg
Posted by kelcazone
8 Comments
This has all happened in a single generation. I guess the question is, how far does this ultimately go? 60%? 75%? 90%?
I bet the top .0001% sees this as a challenge.
Gilded Age 2.0
And as fewer people have more money to buy things, producers produce fewer goods and raise their prices. In other words, despite what conservatives tell you, income inequality drives inflation more than printing money.
>Since 2022, high income households have been the ones keeping the spending party alive.
Not that I disagree with your thesis, but this is a linear chart from 1995 and really doesn’t give nuance to a 2022 breakout.
Ultimately, with markets going crazy and earning on capital being the most tax-friendly path to wealth, I expect more of this. Just $400k in a broad-market fund out-earned the median income last year in terms of net. Just $400k parked for one year earned more than half the workers in the country trading a year of their lives. This does not account for dividends.
Did you just draw a line from 1995 to 2025?
They clearly aren’t spending enough
I noted after COVID that what all that really taught the powers that be is that the economy (generally speaking) can manage just fine with half the people being unemployed and desperate. Ever since then it irks me when I see someone say “We need a general strike”. That will never work now because they know they can get buy without a lot of people.