The American Plutocracy Wants Workers Trapped in Debt

In May 2026, the White House’s top economist went on Fox Business to make an argument that would probably have gotten him laughed out of any economics seminar twenty years ago. Kevin Hassett Maria Bartiromo that “the consumer is really, really firing on all cylinders,” pointing to a fresh surge in credit card spending as proof that the economy was thriving. Days earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that according to banks and credit card companies, “all quintiles of the distribution…