Would America be in recession without the super-rich?

Mar 8th 2026|5 min read

ECONOMISTS LOVE their alphabet. They describe business cycles as L-shaped (down, then flat), U-shaped (gradually down, then up), V-shaped (the same but sharply) or W-shaped (a V with a hiccup). Since covid-19 some have latched on to another letter. The post-pandemic recovery, economic pessimists feared, would resemble a K: up for some (the wealthy), down for others (the poor). Since then, especially in America, concerns about the “K-shaped economy”, where spending by the super-rich is all that is stopping today’s boom from turning to bust, have lingered.