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[PeaceWave]

This message was self-deleted by its author (PeaceWave) on Sat Nov 29, 2025, 11:14 AM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. I don't think the oligarchs are shopping at Walmart, Target and Home Depot. Nt

[leftstreet]

3. I just took the yacht out of my Walmart cart

[ProfessorGAC]

4. I Find The Analysis Suspect, Too

I find it difficult to believe the very rich are spending $500 of every thousand at the supermarket or on utility bills.
I would need to see substantial corroboration before I accept that 49.2% at face value.

[EdmondDantes_]

16. Depends. How much do they shop at Whole Foods

But also grocery sales are only about 1/7th of total retail. So even if the bottom 90% spends even 90% of the groceries which they certainly don't, there's still plenty of spending on other retail things.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. The Car Industry...

...even at the luxury level is not showing unusual growth.
Plus, net worth of those 7 figures and up are seeing growth far in excess of spending habit chabges suggesting this is sketchy. If they make more by x% but save (x+.02)%, they aren't spending more simply because they're making more.
Walmart, which is far more than groceries, is showing only 6.5% revenue growth the last few years. Their revenue is nearly 2.5% of GDP.
While your point is valid, the numbers still don't work for me.

[EdmondDantes_]

22. In the face of gut feeling or evidence, I believe evidence

Especially since it's not just Moody's. It's the Federal Reserve, it's Oxford saying this.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/driving-retail-spending-wealthier-americans-are-powering-us-economy

By August 2024, inflation-adjusted spending on retail goods was nearly 17% higher than it was in January 2018 for upper-income households, defined as those earning more than $100,000.

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Big Assumption On Your Part

I'm not using "gut feeling" either.

[Sympthsical]

8. 10% starts in about the $200k range

Depending where you live. California, for example, has a $340k starting range.

I know people in that range. Tech and healthcare mostly. Once I finish school, my partner and I will be up there (both healthcare).

They're all definitely still shopping at those kinds of places. Our mainstays are Costco, Home Depot, and Marshall's (for reasons I cannot possibly fathom).

The K-shaped recovery has been a thing. But no one cared until, oh I dunno, 2025 for some reason. I've been banging the drum on this forever. If you already were ok, you'll mostly remain ok. But if you are not ok or were barely hanging on, life has gotten more difficult.

It was the entire 2024 election in a nutshell, but people didn't want to talk about it, because it might manifest the bad spirits or something. That's why we kept getting stories about the best stock market evah! and ignored that grocery prices were kind of a thing.

[Jack Valentino]

24. Definitely not 'in person'....

or all us unwashed zombies would smell the fat and eat them alive!

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It will get worse as AI rewards them, their companies, their employees

and those with investments. Robotics will take the high wage manufacturing jobs. AI will supplant office clerical workers.

But, be of good cheer! It's 1920s Hooverism all over again because the same could be said in the 1920s about radio, investments, cars, even canned foods and refrigeration. Innovation gets passed up the income scale.

[highplainsdem]

9. One of the reasons I hope that AI bubble bursts asap.

And then the circular financing enabling the continuation of the hype and con job needs to be investigated as fraud and market manipulation. It won't be under the Trump regime of thieves and grifters, but I hope the government can go after the AI con artists before the statute of limitations runs out.

[stopdiggin]

5. see above. Target, Kohls, Costco, Toys R, TJ Maxx, Amazon, Walmart ...

I'm surprised anyone would even try to advance such an argument .....

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[gab13by13]

6. Yeah, this is obviously misleading,

The rich spend more money for fewer products.

Walmart doesn't sell products that the rich are interested in. With that said, the rich don't care if Walmart goes bankrupt.

[Prairie Gates]

7. People are always eager to tell us that boycotts don't matter

Old enough to remember when BDS didn't matter so much they outlawed it in several states and damn near shut down Columbia University to stop it.

Bottom line: never trust anyone telling you that boycotts don't matter, or that they "only hurt the workers," and other lies.

[Hotler]

10. I'll bet they'll notice if we shut down the other 1/4-1/2 of the consumer spending.

Consumer dollars flow up to those at the top. Stop giving them money.

[Metaphorical]

11. MSM Narratives

No reference (I'm still looking for it) but recently read an article about how retailers are looking forward to a prosperous Black Friday/Black Monday. This got me to thinking: how do they know? Sales to date have been lackluster, especially in the lower half of the K economy, the events haven't taken place, and in recent years, this weekend often tends to be followed by a significant drop in sales because everyone who could bought when prices were lowest.

Amazon, Fedex, and UPS all announced massive layoffs recently, with their drivers taking at least a significant chunk of that. If you expect online retail sales to be high, you don't cut your drivers a week before the busiest sales period of the year. Shipping volume has dropped dramatically, there are no Tickle Me Elmos capturing the imagination, and almost everything seems to be based on anecdotal evidence at shopping malls in wealthy neighborhoods.

Seems to me like this is yet another campaign to convince the buying public that they have to buy now because the stores will be picked clean if you wait, an is very likely wishful thinking.

[Coolgoober]

12. We Have One Very Wealthy Family Member

And they don't shop at any of the stores us regular people do not a one. I know this because I've spent time with them. I also just wanted to point out that they are very generous

[tavernier]

13. If they don't care, why do they want us to know that they don't care.

If I receive junk mail from their stores and I toss it in the trash, I don’t call newspapers to tell them that I do that. Because I DON’T care. But their advertising keeps coming, so somebody over there must care.

[Silent Type]

14. So, some guy making $150K buys an $80K BMW and I buy a used VW at $10K. He's spent 8 times what I spend

on an auto.

I can believe that stats in OP, though there is much more to the story.

[Bluestocking]

15. Let's wait and see how the retailers did today

[haele]

17. Top 10% are not wealthy, just sayin'.

Last edited Fri Nov 28, 2025, 04:04 PM - Edit history (1)

They're better off than most, true. But at the 10% to 3% range, they're working and professional middle class, at best.
The $500k a year professionals, largish or multi-property owners, small time investment "gurus", or retirees otherwise living off several million dollars of investments. Which is where the typical GOP supporter actually falls.

The older ones with a paid off mortgage and no student loans are currently comfortable, but for the most part, they still have to balance Medical Bills, helping out adult children who have mortgage payments, student loans, and medical bills.

And very few of them realize this will probably be their last comfortable holiday season, because they refused to see the oncoming economic train-wreck clearly set up by the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 zero sum policy, where the .01% are planning to push the big Reset button so they can scoop up all the resources and determine who "deserves" to get what sized crumb.

[miyazaki]

18. If true, further reason to tax them more proportionally.

Half a century of trickle down economics is a proven sham.

[Raftergirl]

20. We are retired with an income (pension +SS) that puts us in the top 10% without touching any of our investment

accounts. Plenty of disposable income (about 60% of monthly take home after all essential bills are paid, plus lawn care, cleaning person, hair stylist, etc. including my CC, which I use a lot as I get miles) and we shop at Walmart for groceries for all our staples and have for years. I also shop at Marshall’s/Home Goods, etc. At my favorite boutique, where I have been shopping for years, there wasn’t a sweater under $500 or a t-shirt under $300. Even I won’t spend that much, though I could easily afford to. So I bought two sweaters on Quince for a total of $150. And just bought a pair of boots, on sale from Tom’s, for $45. Since September when I spent around $100 for 5 items of apparel, this is all I have spent. H did buy me a pair of jeans for my b’day, but not counting that. Didn’t need them but only thing in store not ridiculously priced and that I liked.

The sweater and boots were the only things I needed for the winter, so I am done shopping now.

I probably spend less money shopping than most people with half our income.

[Sympthsical]

23. It's funny you mention this

A friend just stopped by about 30 mins ago and asked if we wanted to go with him to Best Buy to look at sound bars for his parents' new home. My partner and I just tilted our heads at him. A store? You want us to actually go to a physical store? On Black Friday?

Completely foreign concept to us nowadays, and I used to be the biggest Best Buy head back in my 20s and early 30s.