Economics & Politics
U.S. Consumers Are the Economy’s Best Hope Against Recession
Americans have to keep shopping to keep the record expansion going.
If the U.S. economy manages to sustain its record-breaking expansion into 2020, it will be because U.S. consumers didn’t lose their nerve despite all the talk of recession.
Consumer spending makes up almost 70% of the U.S. economy—a higher percentage than almost every other country. (In China, it accounts for about 40%.) And while the propensity of Americans to shop has long been crucial for economic growth, it’s particularly the case now.