The economy isn’t K-shaped. For 87 million, people, it’s desperate and for another 46 million it’s elite

The most dangerous economic divergence isn’t in wealth. It’s in confidence.

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U.S. consumer confidence collapsed to 84.5—its lowest level since 2014, below even pandemic-era lows, the Conference Board recently reported. The Expectations Index fell to 65.1, well under the 80 threshold that historically signals recession. Across income levels, Americans earning under $15,000 remain the least optimistic of any group.

Some look at the U.S. economy today and see resilience: markets near highs, unemployment steady, spending holding up. Others see something darker: affordability pressure, a stagnant labor market, and a growing sense that the system is rigged.

Both interpretations can be true – because the U.S. isn’t living in a single economy right now. That is because 87 million people live in the Desperation Economy – or 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Another  46 million people live in the Elite Economy earning $100,000 or more.

The country is living in a K-shaped economy: two diverging roads, where outcomes for one group accelerate upward while outcomes for another flatten – or quietly deteriorate. The top half is compounding: stable employment, rising asset values, and the confidence that comes from having options. The bottom half is exposed: high sensitivity to inflation, fragile cash flow, rising credit stress, and a feeling that even doing everything “right” isn’t enough.

Today, the bottom half of the K-shaped economy is entering a new era. Call it the Quiet Riot.

This is the threshold where financial strain becomes behavioral exit—when people stop optimizing and start opting out. It is not through public unrest, but through millions of small, rational decisions that add up to something destabilizing: staying stuck instead of moving up, abandoning long-term planning, choosing short-term survival over long-term compounding.

It follows a simple framework. Fuel: affordability strain, debt stress, declining job quality. The oxygen is missing; a lack of agency, when people can’t see a credible path to mobility. The spark here is the shock that pushes households from “stressed but functioning” into opt-out mode. That can be job loss, medical bills, rent jump, or simply one more month where the math doesn’t work.

The result is a vicious cycle. Lower confidence drives lower mobility, which narrows opportunity further, reinforcing the strain that caused the confidence loss in the first place. The economy doesn’t break all at once. It frays slowly, as millions of people decide there’s no longer a reason to play a game they believe they can’t win.

But what makes this moment uniquely dangerous is the crisis in confidence.

Peter Atwater, an economist and William and Mary adjunct professor, has argued that what policymakers routinely miss is the psychological layer. People don’t act based on inflation prints or GDP releases. They act based on what they believe those numbers mean for them. And belief drives behavior.

Confidence doesn’t just track reality – it can create it. When households feel in control, they invest, spend, take risks. When they feel trapped, they delay milestones, disengage from opportunity – and sometimes disengage from the social contract altogether.

This is where affordability becomes the defining political issue. It has bipartisan appeal because its lived experience cuts across ideology. The bottom half of the K doesn’t experience “inflation coming down.” They experience groceries that never went back down, rent that kept climbing, car insurance that feels absurd, and job mobility that feels frozen.

The most dangerous phase of a K-shaped economy isn’t the part we can see on charts. It’s the part we can’t: the quiet shift in behavior when people stop believing effort translates into progress.

Here’s the problem: the top 10% of households own roughly 93% of stock market wealth. When the market rises, that’s whose confidence rises with it. When observers say, “the economy is strong” because the S&P is up, they are describing a prosperity that seven in 10 Americans don’t feel – because they don’t own it.

A K-shaped market can become a K-shaped society.

The optimistic take is not that this heals itself. It won’t. The optimistic take is that strategies are available to bend the graph back: wider participation in market upside, tools that make wealth-building automatic, reskilling that connects to real jobs, and a credible narrative of mobility.

The problem is that most financial “wellness” programs assume stability people don’t have. Most reskilling initiatives produce credentials without job offers. Most policy interventions are designed for the top half of the K, and then policymakers wonder why the bottom half isn’t responding.

There is no shortage of ideas. There is a shortage of solutions designed for volatility, not stability—for the people who need momentum, not the people who already have it.

A K-shaped economy that persists long enough becomes a K-shaped society—where the top gets insulated enough to become careless, the bottom gets desperate enough to become combustible, and the middle loses belief that effort translates into progress.

That’s not just an economic issue. That’s stability risk.

The choice isn’t between optimism and fearmongering. It’s between pretending the K is normal – or building the conditions to reverse it.

If we rebuild confidence through real mobility, real ownership, and real tools – not slogans – then the K doesn’t have to be destiny. It can be a warning sign that we acted on in time.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

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