Swonk on Tariffs: We’ve Seen a Major Deterioration in Consumer Confidence

RUSH EXCERPT:
SWONK: "Well, we’ve seen across every income group, every age, every demographic, every wealth strata and every party affiliation, a major deterioration in consumer confidence. Even the wealthiest households, which now account for a disproportionate amount of overall spending, they’re starting to say that they are not confident in the economy and their future finances. That’s very important because they account for almost half, 10% of households, of all spending in the U.S. economy which speaks to how the inequality that we are already seeing in the U.S. economy, which is quite stark. And that’s why we worry about tariffs because tariffs are a regressive tax. They hit those with low and middle incomes much harder than higher incomes, but even among the highest income strata you’re seeing a tentativeness. And on days when we see the stock market go down, you can literally see almost in real time spending at luxury goods stores pull back, and I think that’s important to remember as well."