Consumer spending is a crucial part of the US economy, accounting for about twothirds of its growth. But with inflation still running sticky, can spending power hold up. The latest data appears to be yet another testament to the sheer resilience of the US consumer.However, the solid gains are masking a deepening inequality among US households where a small share of high-wealth Americans is seeing continued gains while a larger share of the middle and lower income households is experiencing increased strain. ...

Car prices are near all time highs and yet sales are rising, and that's mainly thanks to the rich. Eight months into 2025, the share of new cars costing more than $50,000 is almost double what it was six years ago. It's not just because automakers are charging more across the board, it's because the share of vehicles at the highest prices has grown.Reality is, the automakers are in the business to make money. And this market, because of higher-income households buying a greater percentage of the vehicles, h ...

RT The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter)Low-income earners are struggling:The 3-month average of the bottom 33% of Americans' after-tax YoY wage growth dropped to 0.9% in August, the slowest pace since 2016.This is a significant decline from the +3.0% seen at the beginning of the year.At the same time, the top third saw +3.6% YoY growth, the highest since November 2021.In other words, top earners’ wages are growing 4 TIMES faster than those of low-income consumers.By comparison, middle-income earners’ salar ...

In some of New York City’s wealthiest neighborhoods, even high earners are struggling to keep up with ballooning costs. @PaulinaCachero explains https://t.co/juPJkjK3vs https://t.co/yLHIO0YFIC ...

Let's start with a scene that might seem oddly familiar. You're sitting at your computer. You've got 10 to 20 tabs open.I'm talking news articles, emails, a half-finish YouTube video, your bank account, and maybe even a recipe for dinner. You know, the ones you'll never actually make. Your computer starts lagging.It's frustrating. So, you slam your fist on the desk and go, "Oh." As you might have guessed, this isn't just about your computer. There's so much noise in the world, so many issues demanding our a ...

Group 1: Chatbot Usage Trends - OpenAI and Anthropic released studies detailing the usage trends of their chatbots, ChatGPT and Claude, highlighting a contrast in user demographics and use cases [2] - OpenAI's ChatGPT has a significant user base with 700 million active weekly users, representing nearly 10% of the global population, exchanging approximately 18 billion messages weekly [3] - The majority of ChatGPT messages (70%) are classified as "non-work" queries, with 80% of these falling into practical guidance, writing help, and information-seeking categories [3] Group 2: User Demographics and Professional Use - ChatGPT is predominantly used by younger individuals, with nearly half of all messages coming from users under the age of 26 [3] - When used for work, ChatGPT is more likely to be utilized by highly-educated professionals in high-paying jobs, indicating a potential disparity in access to AI benefits [4] - The data suggests a concerning trend where AI may exacerbate economic inequality, as more educated users leverage AI for increased productivity while others may fall behind [6] Group 3: Specific Use Cases - Messages related to relationships, personal reflection, and role-playing constitute a small fraction of ChatGPT's usage, with only 2.4%, 1.9%, and 0.4% respectively [7] - Despite the competitive focus on coding capabilities among AI companies, coding-related queries made up only 4.2% of the analyzed messages, indicating a limited use case in this area [8]

Economic Impact of Tariffs - US farmers are significantly impacted by Trump's tariff war due to soaring fertilizer prices eroding profits [1] - US shoppers are experiencing order cancellations as countries globally cancel American-bound shipments because of tariffs [1] - The economic road ahead could be bumpy due to tariffs [1] Market Disconnect - Stock market soars, with the S&P topping 6,500 for the first time [1] - Markets are primarily focused on the earnings of seven mega companies, largely unaffected by tariffs and immigration policies [2] - Dow and NASDAQ provide an illusion of prosperity, not accurately reflecting the overall economy or corporate America's health [2] - Market performance primarily reflects the well-being of tech giants and the top 10% [2] Wealth Disparity - The mega-rich are getting mega-richer [3] - Questions arise whether the markets accurately represent the economy [3]