Quote:

---

Perhaps the more significant economic takeaway from the viral McDonald’s meal is not that the meal actually cost $16 but that the man paid for it.

It’s not clear whether the TikTok user who posted the video, Topher Olive, saw the price of the special menu item before he ordered it. (He didn’t respond to CNN’s request to comment Monday.) But McDonald’s doesn’t hide its prices, and it’s clear Olive did pay for it because he filmed the receipt.

That part of the story mirrors a bigger economic trend — that Americans say they feel bad about the economy when asked by pollsters, but their actions tell a different story.

Despite higher prices and all-around sour mood, American consumers have been exceptionally willing to spend money on dining out, travel, concert tickets, and all manner of goods.

Consumer spending, the biggest engine of the US economy, powered US gross domestic product to grow at a stunning annualized rate of nearly 5% last quarter — more than double the quarter before that.

That doesn’t mean all Americans are thriving, but it does suggest that the historically strong labor market — unemployment has been under 4% for nearly two years — is giving workers a sense of security about their future paychecks.

---

Quote:

---

Americans are carrying more debt than ever

Inflation has also impacted spending on major purchases. Balances on non-housing loans have more than doubled since 2003, totaling roughly $4.8 trillion, according to data from the New York Federal Reserve. More than $500 billion of that debt accumulated just in the past two years – a bigger jump than any other two-year period since 2003, the earliest year available.

Some of that debt comes from skyrocketing car prices, but credit card balances are growing the fastest of all – roughly 34% from the fall of 2021. Student loan and car loan balances have grown by 10% or less over that same period of time, although student loan debt could begin to climb now that payments have resumed.

---