Over half of Americans, 60%, say a weeklong vacation is unaffordable-and even 49% report the small joy of going out to dinner is out of their budgets. Around 74% also say buying a new car is too expensive, but beyond these commonplace "luxuries," U.S. adults are battling the exorbitant costs of everyday essentials.
Delinquency rates across mortgages, credit cards, auto loans and student debt have climbed to their highest levels in nearly a decade, reaching 4.8% of outstanding household debt in the fourth quarter. While headline numbers remain within long-term historical ranges, a closer look reveals where stress is building: lower-income ZIP codes, younger borrowers, and markets experiencing slowing or declining home values.
For 40 years I have been a proud valley resident. But I am increasingly appalled by how our tech leaders are shaping our future. And, more recently, embarrassed for the valley. The links to Jeffrey Epstein. The trips to Mar-a-Lago. The donation of millions for monuments to President Trump's ego. The failure to use power and technology to call out the cruelty and lies that are the backbone of the current administration.
The latest Census data also suggest the next phase of U.S. politics will be shaped less by a single national economy than by who benefited from growth and where they live. By the numbers: The U.S. median household income rose to $80,734, the 2020-2024 American Community Survey released Thursday and examined by Axios showed. That's a 4.4% jump from 2015-2019 after inflation.
The dirty secret many now understand is that a lot of wage labor is not enough to get by in America anymore. The past promise of working hard for 40 hours per week and getting a home and a retirement in return is gone for a significant chunk of this country, stripped away by capitalists whose only desire in their miserable lives is to have more than they currently do.
Social class permeates all aspects of life, and love is no exception. In Spain, for instance, couples don't form randomly; rather, they're typically determined by socioeconomic factors. This means that people tend to partner with those most similar to themselves in terms of income and wealth. And, at the top of the social ladder, this tendency intensifies. Those who earn and have the most assets find each other with a frequency three times greater than would occur in a society where relationships were completely random.
The narrative surrounding the "resilient U.S. consumer," which has been a major upside surprise in 2025, is now facing significant headwinds, according to the Global Investment Committee (GIC) at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. While consumer spending has maintained a steady nominal growth rate of 5% to 6%, underpinning a bullish outlook for US equities in 2026, the GIC is expressing caution. Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer and head of the GIC, warned that although the broader macroeconomic picture remains cautiously optimistic, the "K-shaped" economy demands greater scrutiny.
A decade ago, low-income workers saw wages grow at the highest rate of any Americans. Now, the opposite is true, and the gap is widening between how quickly wages increase for wealthy and poorer U.S. households. In a Monday blog post titled "K-shaped economy," Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok warned the growing disparity is yet another sign of today's economy continuing to serve the rich, while poor Americans continue to struggle.
An Oxford don in charge of mathematical finance told its reporters that almost all his students ended up working at quant trading firms, on salaries from 250,000 to 800,000. If you get offered a salary less than 250K, you're kind of the sad guy, he said, adding that nobody I know interviews for JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs not once do I hear anybody entertain any of these traditional investment banking jobs.
For high-income consumers ("the haves"): Strong spending power: Wealthy consumers are buoyed by high asset prices in stocks and real estate. The market melt-up, fueled by investments in areas like artificial intelligence, has increased their net worth. Insulation from interest rates: These individuals are less affected by higher interest rates, allowing them to continue spending on both luxury items and daily goods. Confidence in the economy: Their financial confidence remains strong, leading to continued investment and consumption.
Economists have long warned that the upward climb has slowed to a near standstill. Now the OECD has provided figures that reinforce this perception: in Spain, more than a third of income inequality is determined by factors that do not depend on the individual, but rather on imposed or inherited circumstances such as gender, the parents' place of birth, or, above all, their socioeconomic background.
Last year's presidential election underscored, particularly to Democrats, that the costs of living were a major factor in the outcome. Inflation had increased sharply during Joe Biden's presidency, and voters' angst about rising prices worked against Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign to succeed him in the White House. Not surprisingly, therefore, when the California Legislature opened its 2025 session, its dominant Democrats declared that they would focus on taming the state's notoriously high costs for housing, fuel, utilities and other necessities of modern life.
