The Rich Still Aren’t Spending Like They Used To

Here’s a fascinating chart from the New York Times:

First of all, it’s interesting to see how fast spending plummeted: it declined by a third within the space of less than two weeks. That’s unreal.

Second, it shows how effective the UI bonus payments have been. These payments go to the unemployed, who are largely in the bottom half of the income spectrum, and those are the people whose spending rebounded most strongly.

Third, it suggests that the upper middle class is still spending way less than it used to. The article notes this, but finds it largely inexplicable. However, given that the top 25 percent are responsible for something like half of all spending, their reluctance to get back to normal is a big deal.

My own guess? Low-income workers cut back on necessities (rent, food, etc.) because that’s all they buy. When they got more money, they started buying that stuff again because they had to. Richer folks cut back mainly on luxuries (theater outings, expensive restaurant meals), and many of those things are still unavailable. More generally, their spending is still down because they mainly cut back on nonessential items in the first place and that means they can afford to wait a while before they get back to normal.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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