America’s “Jenga tower” economy looks strong — but pull one block, and it could all fall. The rich are spending, the rest are struggling.

True or not, the attribution of job losses to AI is what matters in this story...

To borrow from Rob Henderson, the more I look, the more AI feels like the ultimate top-of-the-K luxury belief.

More accurately "almost 600 domestic flights" All the money is being made in the front of the bus on overseas routes.

"K-Shaped Cutbacks" When you look at how much money now comes from the front of the bus versus the back, this is hardly surprising...

It's "bifurcated" It's a "two-track economy." I feel like "K-Shaped" is the Voldemort of Fed speak. Given the clear image it suggests, it shall not be spoken.

I feel like I just heard this somewhere...

Imagine that...

Now do AI...

LOL - Who would say something like that??!!

‘The risk now is that what might be considered a “natural” amount of inequality develops into something “extreme” and leaves the economy at large more vulnerable to duress. “It triggers discontent, social unrest and is more corrosive than conducive to growth”.‘ www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

This thread is required reading:

I can't image who would say a thing like that!

FWIW- As they guy who called its beginning, I don't think it is too soon to declare the end of the K-Shaped Economy. To borrow from @epsilontheory.bsky.social, common knowledge matters and the divide between those at the top and bottom is so obvious and well known as to now demand a response.

I've seen/heard more "K-shaped" references in the last week than any prior week. That can't be a good sign.

There will be lots of talk that America moved leftward last night. It didn't. It moved downward and discovered there is more bipartisan vulnerability at the bottom of the K than people thought.

Palantir published “The Defense Reformation” one year ago (10/31/24), calling out how consolidation had made the US primes sclerotic. It’s now bigger than all of those companies and most of them combined. $PLTR

Am beginning to think the plural of mania is manai.

ICYMI @marketplace.org went full out K-Shaped Economy on Friday: spotify.link/QW4UGCGvYXb

the assumptions made about the target audience by making the first two items "OnlyFans' and 'child support' are kind of incredible

Of the many visualizations of the K-Shaped Economy, I always find myself returning to this one from the brilliant artist Tomas Walenta which accompanied a @wsj.com column by @mims.bsky.social five years ago.

FWIW - The bubble investors should be most concerned about right now isn't AI; it is the ballooning population of despair at the very bottom of the K.

As many suddenly awaken to the reality of our K-Shaped Economy, here's what I first wrote back in March 2020. It had little to do with economics, but instead focused on the potential perils of the confidence-divide that goes along with a K-Shaped Economy: www.linkedin.com/pulse/wfh-co...

$4.99 on Kindle today. A bargain.

Admittedly, self-serving: With the K-Shaped Economy now front and center, for those curious about why invulnerability and desperation are such a fragile, toxic combination, my book "The Confidence Map" has what you are looking for. amazon.com/Confidence-M...

Something something K-Shaped Economy...

When "picks and shovels" includes bulldozers and power-generation equipment...

I am delighted to announce that thanks to the wonderful team at China Translation & Publishing House (CTPH), the complex character edition of "The Confidence Map" is now available. It's wild to me that my book is now printed in four languages!

Forget the K Shape, it's now something something "Bottomless Economy"...

Houston, we have a problem. And probably plenty of other American cities. And this is before SNAP payments end.

In the category of stories unwritten at market lows...

FWIW - Unfortunate events are always labeled as idiosyncratic until there are enough of them that the crowd can identify a clear consistent pattern to them. Then, all those idiosyncratic events become systemic.

FWIW - The current state of America's Legislative Branch of our government is a case study on the Passenger Seat - where those on the right appear to have chosen to be there while those on the left feel imprisoned there.

I know it is PrimaLend, but PrimalEnd would have been far more fitting.

WEIL: “.. Circularity can be virtuous on the upside, and vicious on the downside. The deals can work fine, until they don’t.” @wsj.com $NVDA $ORCL @justinhendrix.bsky.social www.wsj.com/tech/ai/is-t...

ICYMI, I spoke with Glenn Beck this morning about the AI Bubble and our K-Shaped Economy. Our conversation begins at 1:10 in today's episode. www.glennbeck.com/st/Podcast

While there are clearly two realities, at this point, there is really only one economy: the top of the K. The result is a top-heavy Jenga tower swaying in the breeze.

Something something K-Shaped Economy...

Something something K-Shaped Economy...

Nice to see @ivanthek.bsky.social and @peteratwater.bsky.social get some credit. 🔥 (via @johnauthers.bsky.social @opinion.bloomberg.com) www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

It is said that the market is not the economy. Given how top-of-the-K-dependent the U.S. has become, I'd offer that, today, the economy is the market.

The K-Shaped Economy is back in the news as companies catering to the very top have reported strong third quarter earnings. Based on what I see, the confidence CEOs have that the very top can continue to drive earnings growth appears to be misguided. www.linkedin.com/pulse/busine...

Are they "Meme Stones" or "Meme Rocks"? Asking for a friend.

It's always cool to learn how others are using "The Confidence Map" framework. When the person is Jawad Mian, and the application is the markets, the thoughtful and poetic conclusion is required reading. stray-reflections.com/articles/moo...

I wrote "The Confidence Map" to help others understand how our feelings of certainty and control drive how we feel, what we want, and what we do. Think about where you were last Sunday and where you are now on the Quadrant below and how that shift in location changed everything

Whether it's my book or someone else's, please tell a friend about it. A great way you can help an author is to let others know how much their book meant to you. Even better, send a copy.

Candidly, the crowd should be far more concerned about the overlapping web of capital-moving conveyor belts now being exposed by the First Brand and Tricolor bankruptcies than the one that has recently received all the attention in AI.

The game of "Where's Waldo?" continues...