Thought provoking as ever Greg.
It is no wonder consumer spending is down when people have maxed out their credit cards. According to the Fed's own figures that were released in Decmeber 2017 total household debt passed $13 trillion! This is higher than the peak in 2008 when it reached $12.6 trillion.
Think about those figures for a moment. How can the U.S. economy grow when it is so depedent upon consumer spending?