Americans have long been the biggest consumers on the planet.

An American consumption has grown and grown over time.

Americans bought 68 new items of clothing last year, a huge increase from the 12 items a year

that they used to buy in the 1980s.

Their spending on that clothing, however, has fallen.

In the 1980s, the average American spent 7% of their annual income on clothing.

Well today they just spend 3%.

So for less than half of the spending, shoppers today are getting almost six times as many items. According to J.P. Morgan, since the turn

of the century, real personal consumption growth in the United States, meaning inflation-adjusted

consumption growth, average 2.5%. But in the second half of 2023, that rose above 3%, even with the higher interest rates

and elevated but declining inflation.

Consumer spending accounts for almost 70% of US GDP.

And while consumption in Europe has grown over time too, Europeans tend to spend less

time at work than Americans, do more work at home and they have

lower overall consumption.

For decades, the American consumer has powered not just the world's biggest economy, but

the entire global economy.

According to the World Bank, Americans make up around one-third

of global consumer spending, but are only 4% of the global population. We should only be

so surprised by this. Americans are amongst the most productive workers in the world, and thus

are amongst the best paid.

The fact that they're both busy and highly paid makes them naturally big consumers.

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