The top 10% of earners—households making about $250,000 a year or more—are splurging on everything from vacations to designer handbags, buoyed by big gains in stocks, real estate and other assets.
Those consumers now account for 49.7% of all spending, a record in data going back to 1989, according to an analysis by Moody’s Analytics. Three decades ago, they accounted for about 36%.
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Having earned that for several years (though not any longer), in the SF bay area where I lived, that was the lower end of the upper middle class. I’ve since retired, and have subsequently taken on a post-retirement job in public service, so my earnings aren’t that high any more.
I’d categorize lipo specialists, many cosmetic surgeons and most non-criminal lawyers among the leeches, though your point holds. I’d add that there’s a distinction between those doing real jobs and those pursuing the discretionary spending of the very rich. Sorry, yachtmakers, private-jet leasers, coke dealers and high-end escort agencies, you’ll have to learn to do something else.