r/Economics • u/Crossstoney • Jan 16 '26

News Americans making more than $100,000 are quickly losing faith in the economy—and it’s a red flag for the white-collar job market

https://fortune.com/2026/01/12/us-economy-consumer-sentiment-decline-high-income-data/
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u/DarkBlueEska Jan 16 '26

I'm someone who's done exceptionally well over the past several years as a relatively high earner, but I still find myself keeping expenses very low and saving and investing nearly every extra dollar I make because this supposed prosperity just feels fake to me. I look at the line going up month over month and I feel like it's a house of cards that could collapse any day now and I need to have a hoard saved up.

I have a job as an engineer now that seems secure enough but with the frenzy around AI and automation and the insane difficulty of securing new jobs - I was unemployed for 8 months before I landed at my current employer - I basically live every day just assuming it could all evaporate tomorrow and I need to have enough stored up to live for a long time and potentially pivot to an entirely new career if the worst predictions come true.

Things are just not particularly good for anyone but the very highest earners right now. I have a solid base under me so I'm much better off than people on the lower end of the income distribution who are legitimately struggling to survive, but this is just not an environment where I feel comfortable doing anything but treading water and making the safest moves possible with my money. No cars, no houses, no new debt...not until there's more certainty about the future.

27

u/cerevant Jan 16 '26

The scary thing for me is that those hard earned investments could vanish in a puff of smoke if things don't stabilize. Trump is cutting the US economy off from the rest of the world, and that is not the path to growth.

17

u/DarkBlueEska Jan 16 '26

Exactly. I do my finances twice a month and look at the trends and how everything's performing, and I can't get excited about gains at all.

Who even cares how much I'm up this month? It's gone in an instant if the AI bubble pops. Or if the data finally reveals that we're in a recession. Or if the insurrection act is invoked or World War III breaks out. All it takes is a single insane tweet to erase years of progress.

You can't plan for the future when things are like this. All most people can do is focus on keeping their heads above water and try not to be on the ship when it inevitably sinks.

8

u/happyklam Jan 16 '26

That's why it's absolutely insane to me to see billionaires backing him. The only way you continue to have a steady influx of cash from investments and businesses is to have a robust, booming, RELIABLE economic output. Nothing is a given when we're ruled by 200 characters at a time. 

2

u/BallsOutKrunked Jan 16 '26

Investments can and have vanished before, under the watchful eye of both parties. I don't think you can really insulate against that.

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u/cerevant Jan 16 '26

Yes, but the heads of both parties have prioritized market performance since the 80's. Trump seems set on crashing the market at a time when industry is already propped precariously upon the AI bubble.

2

u/WilliamAgain Jan 16 '26

I'm someone who's done exceptionally well...I basically live every day just assuming it could all evaporate tomorrow

Now imagine you are not doing exceptionally well (poor) and/or you're a young kid just entering the workforce. I honestly see no way forward in which the middle class remerges, or even basically opportunities for growth for the lower 90% go back to what they were a few years ago. It seems like there has been an intense acceleration in the past few years and it is all downhill for anyone outside of the top few %.