The U.S. economy has so far defied forecasts of a recession, with consumer spending powering on despite the steepest interest rates in decades and stubbornly high inflation.
Why? One significant but overlooked reason is the growing population of elderly people, a group who often don’t need to borrow money or worry about getting a pink slip because they already own a home and are retired, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
Last year Americans 65 and older accounted for 22% of spending — the highest share since records were first kept in 1972 and up from 15% in 2010, the Journal reported, citing a Labor Department survey of consumer expenditures from September. Elderly people made up 17.7% of the U.S. population, Census figures from August showed — the most in more than a century.
“Our large share of older consumers provides a consumption base in times like today when job…
