\n But, for the most part, the year-to-date data paints a picture of a resilient economy<\/a>. And just going by the stock market (which isn\u2019t the economy, by the way<\/a>), this period looks like a Golden Age.\n <\/p>\n \n At the same time, bankruptcy filings have increased<\/a> for the past three years; debt levels have grown; delinquency rates<\/a> have moved higher; and the personal savings rate is at its lowest in more than three years.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI should be securely in the middle class,\u201d said Massey, who lives in a relatively low-cost-of-living Nashville suburb. \u201cI should be fine, and I\u2019m not. I can\u2019t be the only one feeling like this.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It\u2019s normal for prices to increase, especially over years. But since 2021, everyday goods and services are up about 25%. That\u2019s more than double the pace during a comparable period pre-pandemic.\n <\/p>\n \n Lower-income households are disproportionately impacted, given that a larger share of their earnings goes toward basic needs like groceries and gas.\n <\/p>\n \n And as higher-income shoppers trade down from premium brands to cheaper alternatives, demand for lower-cost goods rises, said David Ortega, a food economics professor at Michigan State University.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIf you were someone who was buying the conventional product, you don\u2019t have anything to switch down to,\u201d Ortega said.\n <\/p>\n \n Sharply higher gas prices haven\u2019t curbed consumer spending for everyone.\n <\/p>\n \n Bank of America data showed that consumer spending was running at a 4% annual growth rate in April, even with stripping out gasoline.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThat\u2019s the fastest growth in over three years,\u201d David Michael Tinsley, senior economist at the Bank of America Institute, told CNN, fueled in part by higher tax refunds and the persistence of a K-shaped economy.\n <\/p>\n \n Income and wealth inequality have long persisted in the United States and elsewhere; however, the disparities have widened in recent years, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe gaps between higher-income wage growth, for example, and middle- and lower-income wage growth is the largest it\u2019s been in our data, which goes back about 10 years,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n After-tax wage growth for higher-income households (above $130,000) is running at 6% annually versus 1.5% for lower-income households (below $70,000) and 2.3% for middle-income households (between $70,000 and $130,000).\n <\/p>\n \n The gap in the spending growth is less stark but still the widest in three years, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n But the tax refunds, which served as a saving grace for some, are also finite, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n Bill Brantner has worked in manufacturing for 20 years, including some fly-by-night operations where his workday was greeted with a note on a locked front door. He\u2019s never started a job for more than $19 an hour, never earned more than $23 an hour.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/gettyimages-2275878835.jpg\")
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