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  • April RET Reflections

April RET Reflections

  • 04/27/2025
  • 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
  • Zoom

Do you Matter to the Economy?

If you spend a little less this month, does Jeff Bezos call you up to see if you are well?   If you spend more than usual, does Jerome Powell call you up and tell you to cut back to hold down inflation?  Does your pocket change even matter?

Most Americans can’t afford life anymore — and they just don’t matter to the economy like they once did

The bottom 90% of earners — those who make less than $250,000 a year — are now responsible for 50.3% of all consumer spending in the country, data from Moody’s Analytics show. Thirty years ago, they accounted for 64% of U.S. spending. As the rich make up an increasing share of the U.S. economy, bolstering overall consumer spending, middle- and low-income Americans cut their spending from fall 2023 to fall 2024, Moody’s found.

What does it mean that BMWs and luxury purses might drive the economy more that your beat-up old Yugo and thrift store purse?  Are the high dollar items driving interest rates up so you can't buy a house?  Will all those tariffs to make America great again push you over the edge?

As you sit in your cardboard box under the freeway overpass eating day old bread, sign in to Reflections and tell us about your views on this issue.

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