Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, July 31, 2026
The US economy continues to exhibit a 'K-shaped' trend, where those who own assets like stocks and homes are prospering, while renters and those without significant investments are struggling. This divergence has become more pronounced in recent years.
“Well, yes, broadly, we do and have had a K shape economy for some time, but the K, the branches of the K, have been diverging more widely in the last six or seven years. The way I like to think about it, Scarlett is roughly sixty percent of Americans live in a house that's owner occupied housing, sometimes with their parents, but it's owned about forty percent rent. Most of that sixty percent owned stocks, most of the other forty percent doesn't. So we've been in an economy for some time, but especially in the last six years when stocks have gone up, house prices have gone up.”
“So the top of that K is doing pretty well. If you're in the other part of the K, you don't own your house, you don't own a lot of stocks, you're living paycheck to paycheck. It's been a tough six years, and so there's no doubt we're in a casehay to.”