How stretched is the American consumer?

Jun 21st 2026|4 min read

Americans are meant to be optimists. When it comes to their economic wellbeing, they lately seem anything but. Their glumness, though, has not relieved them of their appetite to spend. Even as the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index has languished, personal consumption—the engine of the American economy, accounting for two-thirds of gdp—has has grown by a respectable 2% or so over the past year. The gap between how Americans feel and what they do has puzzled economists, who have suggested explanations from data mishaps to the “k-shaped” economy, the flawed theory that only the rich are spending freely.