folks aren’t spending as much; they’re saving their money.
In my experience, this was inevitable. Not because wealthy folks have
suddenly turned frugal (although there is some of that), but more so
because smart "wealthy" folks tend to be value-oriented rather than
price-oriented. This means that many of their purchases are for durable
goods with long lifetimes; there’s no churn of new appliances, clothes,
furniture, electronics, or sporting goods when the stuff you buy is
engineered to last a decade to a lifetime. That’s what nailed the auto
industry, but no one wants to admit it–just how often do you need
to buy a new BMW? (My wife and I replaced one preowned in the
last 12 years.) Once you’ve bought all the stuff you need, your rate of
purchasing is bound to go down.
While my household is nowhere near the Obama definition of wealthy (>
$250K/year), we certainly don’t live paycheck to paycheck. Several
years ago we discovered that after you’ve replaced and upgraded the
furniture, appliances, cars, and electronics, you just flat run out
of things to want. Especially when all that’s on offer is cheap
throwaway crap from China. Although, I would like a pair of
these…
The Random Texan 
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