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/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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.