US Winemakers and Beer Brewers Face an Existential Crisis: Plunging Alcohol Consumption by Wolf Richter • Mar 26, 2026 • 139 Comments Beer brewers have long suffered as Americans switched to wine. But since Covid, even winemakers got hit, and 2025 was really bad.
$5+ Diesel Could Unleash Inflationary Mindset the Fed Better Not “Look Through.” Inflation Was already Hot before Iran War by Wolf Richter • Mar 24, 2026 • 118 Comments When this inflationary mindset takes off, inflation becomes like a runaway train.
Where Americans Spend their Trillions on Goods and How that Changed since 2015 by Wolf Richter • Mar 6, 2026 • 60 Comments Big structural changes in spending patterns created winners and losers.
U.S. Gasoline Demand Fell Further amid Long-Term Structural Shift: Plunging Per-Capita Consumption by Wolf Richter • Mar 4, 2026 • 70 Comments Even as miles driven rose to a record.
Credit Card Delinquencies, Balances, Burden, Credit Limits, and Collections in Q4 2025 by Wolf Richter • Feb 25, 2026 • 64 Comments Despite the wailing about tapped-out, struggling and cracking consumers, the credit card delinquency rate dropped to multi-year low.
Serious Delinquency Rates for Subprime & Prime Auto Loans, Balances, and Debt-to-Income Ratio in Q4 2025 by Wolf Richter • Feb 17, 2026 • 50 Comments The high-risk, high-profit ecosystem of subprime auto loans is not for the squeamish.
Here Come the HELOCs: Mortgages, Housing-Debt-to-Income-Ratio, Serious Delinquencies, and Foreclosures in Q4 2025 by Wolf Richter • Feb 12, 2026 • 39 Comments One of the most fundamental changes resulting from the Financial Crisis was the transfer of mortgage risk from banks to taxpayers.
Household Debts, Debt-to-Income Ratio, Delinquencies, Collections, Foreclosures, and Bankruptcies in Q4 2025 by Wolf Richter • Feb 11, 2026 • 60 Comments Americans and their Debts. Long-defaulted federal student loans, after coming out of the woodwork, whack delinquency rates.
Not Seasonally Adjusted, Retail Sales Spiked by $80 billion, the Most for any December Ever by far, to $817 Billion, the Most Ever by Wolf Richter • Feb 10, 2026 • 34 Comments Seasonal Adjustments Gone Awry? They whacked $82 billion off December sales, by far the most ever.
Population Growth Slows to Crawl, Net Migration May Turn “Negative”: Census Bureau’s New Population Estimates by Wolf Richter • Jan 27, 2026 • 150 Comments Hugely important for housing, employment, and consumer spending.
