As many shoppers scrimp and stress, the wealthiest splurge

Marketplace

American Public Media

Business, News

4.6 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New context for the strong-consumer-spending-and-falling-consumer-sentiment combo: According to a Boston Fed report, the proportion of spending done by top-earning U.S. households is growing, and the share spent by lower-income Americans is shrinking. What might that widening gap tells us about the trajectory of this economy? Plus: Strong Q2 corporate earnings are an economic bright spot, U.S. energy exports may not break records again this year, and we investigate who profits from the tripled ICE budget.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify.
0:05.6	You know that purple shop pay button you see at checkout?
0:08.4	The one that makes buying so incredibly easy?
0:11.1	That's Shopify.
0:12.1	And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it,
0:15.0	because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your own business.
0:19.8	Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of
0:22.2	businesses around the world, from household names like Mattel and Jimshark to brands just getting
0:26.8	started. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify.
0:32.8	Sign up for a one pound per month trial and start selling today at Shopify.co.com.
0:37.9	UK slash Marketplace 22.
0:40.6	Go to Shopify.com.
0:42.3	UK slash Marketplace 22.
0:47.8	On the program today, the consumer dichotomy,
0:51.9	immigration detention as a business,
0:56.2	and then we'll go cheese shopping.
1:01.2	From American public media, this is Marketplace.
1:16.9	In Los Angeles, I'm Kyle. It is Monday, today, August the 18th. Good as always to have you along, everybody.
1:26.1	We talk a lot about consumers on this program. We do that because consumers drive almost everything that happens in this economy.
1:28.2	But far too often, and we're guilty of this sometimes too, we talk about consumers as a monolith, one cohort of people that
1:33.6	behaves in one particular way. That is, of course, not reality. And as what's happening in
1:39.4	this economy happens, inflation going the wrong way, the labor market slowing, tariffs, and all
	...

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