• ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Excellent site for backing up my claim, thanks you.

    Consumer spending, as measured by Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis], accounts for 68% of the GDP.

    Top 3 items:

    1. Housing (33.4% of budget): rent, mortgage interests, property taxes, water, electricity, internet, appliances, furniture.

    2. Transportation (17.0%), heavily influenced by commuting habits: cars, fuel.

    3. Food (12.9% of budget), includes groceries and food away from home (restaurants)

    4. Insurance, Pensions, & Healthcare (20.4% combined)

    5. Discretionary”, everything else: clothing, entertainment, education (!), …

    That’s a rather interesting breakdown, and a few items surprised me a lot. In any case, and more to the point I was replying, the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey gives this breakdown:

    • The Top 20% (Highest Income Quintile): Accounts for roughly 35% to 38% of total consumption.

    • The Middle 60% (Middle Class): Accounts for roughly 53% of spendingg

    • The Bottom 20% (Lowest Income Quintile): Accounts for roughly 9% of spending.

    It seems like this survey, since it’s based on questionnaires, tends to underreport luxury goods, so in reality it might be skewed more towards the top 20% than what’s presented there.

    Even if that’s the case, surely it’s nowhere near the point of “not being profitable to sell to normal people”, as was said.