Economy

America's K-shaped economy continues to be a defining feature of our economic landscape in 2025, highlighting the stark contrast between the resilient upper echelons and the increasingly fragile lower segments of society.

American households are navigating a complex credit landscape in early 2025 according to releases from the New York Federal Reserve.  Total household debt hit a record $18.04 trillion at the end of 2024, driven largely by credit card balances, which surged to $1.21 trillion.

Henry Ford is remembered for revolutionizing the automobile industry, doing so by introducing the assembly line.

As fireworks are being prepared to illuminate the night sky this coming Fourth of July, Atlas wants to take a moment to reflect on the dynamism and resilience of the American economy - a spectacle as breathtaking, varied, and evolving as the pyrotechnics that celebrate our nation's independence.

Our economy oscillates irregularly between expansion or contraction.  It is often illustrated using a stylized symmetric sine wave, demonstrating the virtuous and vicious portions of the economy depending on the direction of the curve.  Unfortunately, the actual cycle is not so smooth. 

Zombies are occasionally the subjects of fictional works.  These undead, horror-related characters are found in books, music videos, movies, and video games.  Often pathogens infect them, turning a once lively person into no more than an animated corporeal without other human essences.  Once an individual transitions, they may become a vector of the disease for which there is no

Retail sales improved in November 2019 according to the Census Bureau.  This 0.2 percent gain to $528.0 billion is on the heels of October’s upwardly revised uptick of 0.4 percent.  Versus a year ago, sales are up $17.1 billion or 3.3 percent. There was plenty of good news in the release, but as you’ll see later, one dark lining to this silver cloud.

There wasn’t a lot to celebrate in the September 2019 Retail Sales release from the Census Bureau; however, Atlas will find a way to cheer it on later in this note.  But first we must deal with the negatives.  The headline is a good place to start as the overall statistic dropped 0.3 percent, giving back most of the prior period’s 0.4 percent gain.

Economic growth slowed in January 2019 according to the latest data from the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI).  This index of 85 components dipped to minus 0.43 from after hitting +0.05 in December 2018.  Since this indicator moves quite a bit each month, Atlas pay attention to the three-month moving average; it fell to 0.0 (a reading which indicates moderate growth) from 0