How Millennials and Low-Income Consumers Are Propping Up the U.S. Economy

[steve2470]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/how-millennials-and-low-income-consumers-are-propping-up-the-us-economy/ar-BBr5uyD?ocid=spartandhp

Younger consumers and those with lower incomes punched above their weight class in the final months of 2015 fueling a 2.35% increase in year-over-year spending in December in 15 U.S. metro areas, according to data released today by the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Institute. Those same groups were leading contributors to consumption gains in October and November.

Separate government data showed consumer spending more than accounted for all economic output gains in the fourth quarter, counteracting drags from weak business investment and a slowdown in international trade.

Those under 25 accounted for nearly 1 percentage point of overall spending growth, J.P. Morgan data said. Those under 35 accounted for nearly the entire gain, 1.9 percentage points. Americans ages 55 and older, conversely, slowed their spending in December compared with a year earlier, according to the data constructed from more than 14 billion anonymized debit and credit card transactions.

Sliced another way, the data shows Americans on the bottom end of the income distribution—many of whom are younger—were a leading source of gains. The bottom 20% of income earners accounted for 1.25 percentage points of total consumption growth. The upper 20% were a 0.43 point drag.

More at link

[intrepidity]

1. The *real* headline: "The upper 20% were a 0.43 point drag"

Fuck them, dragging down the economy. Tax the SHIT out of them!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. Wealth hoarders.

[Igel]

4. So if you spend less and are a drag

we should increase your taxes?

Or is it a case of "7 different problems, but always the same answer"?

[intrepidity]

5. When the root of many problems can be traced

to the same source, yes, the answer is quite often the same.

[annabanana]

3. Well a bunch of the Millenials are still home.

(I can name two right off the bat.) Their income is slightly more "disposable"