Special K and the AI-Generated Economy 📈

By Rob C.
Art by Bob Rich

TL;DR: The American economy has officially split into a “K” shape, where the top 10% drive half of all consumption through luxury benders while the rest of us wonder if we can afford eggs. This isn’t a “recovery”; it’s a hallucination fueled by a $2.5 trillion AI-spending spree that is single-handedly keeping the GDP from flatlining into a recession. While the 15 richest Americans saw their wealth surge by a casual 33% this past year, the Republican Congress responded by slashing taxes for the “Epstein class” and gutting healthcare for the working class.

No, I’m not talking about the cereal, though given the current price of groceries, a bowl of dry flakes might soon be a luxury item. We’re going to get a bit wonky into economics today because you need to understand the “Special K” reality of our crumbling Republic.

A “K-shaped” economy is what happens when economic growth splits in two directions at once. One arm of the “K” shoots into the stratosphere of high-income households, asset owners, luxury industries, finance, tech. The other arm points straight down—working people, low-wage earners, renters, anyone living on a paycheck instead of a portfolio. Same economy. Completely different realities.

Right now, the top 20% of wealthiest Americans are responsible for roughly 80% of all consumer spending. Narrow it further and it gets uglier: the top 10% account for nearly half of all consumption. That’s what’s driving growth— stock buybacks, luxury travel, high-end real estate, $18 cocktails in airport lounges, and whatever the hell rich people buy to feel something. Meanwhile, everyone else, the actual backbone of the nation, are busy prioritizing necessities and cutting back just to keep the lights on.

This split is driven by a brutal truth: This isn’t new. It’s the logical outcome of policy choices stretching back to the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan and the “voodoo” economists launched an all-out war on the working class. Taxes on the wealthy were slashed. Unions were kneecapped. Regulation was gutted. Income shifted away from labor and toward capital. And voilà—capitalism did exactly what it’s designed to do. It concentrated wealth upward, rewarded ownership over work, and produced a society where only those with capital see their lives improve while everyone else struggles just to stay afloat.

Which brings us to AI.

Most of us have been fooled by an AI-generated image at this point. Now we’re being fooled by an AI-generated economy.

But wait, Stable McGenius and his media sycophants tell us is humming along nicely. The stock market is booming. GDP is growing. Corporate earnings are smashing expectations. But peel back the numbers and the illusion cracks. In the first half of 2025, AI-related capital expenditures contributed roughly 1.1% to GDP growth and accounted for over 60% of the 1.6% annualized GDP growth during that period. Strip out AI spending and economists estimate growth would have been somewhere between 0.1% and 0.8%—with some suggesting we’d be flirting with, or already in, a recession.

From mid-2025 until today, AI spending is approaching $2.5 trillion. Trillion. With a “T.” Data centers, chips, cloud infrastructure—an orgy of capital investment that looks impressive on paper but employs relatively few people and funnels returns straight to the top.

And who benefited?

In 2025 alone, the 15 richest Americans saw their wealth surge by 33%, roughly $1 trillion. U.S. billionaires increased their total wealth by $8.2 trillion, a jump of more than 20% in a single year. That’s the real output of the AI economy: not broad prosperity, but historically obscene wealth accumulation.

Naturally, the Republican Congress sprang into action. Not to tax this windfall. Not to reinvest in workers. Not to shore up healthcare or housing. No, they slashed taxes on the Epstein class and cut healthcare subsidies for needy families. The Republican Party loves to pretend they are the “good stewards” of the economy, but they have driven this country to the brink of collapse because they refuse to tax the massive wealth of their donors. They would rather see the American people starve than ask a billionaire to contribute to the society that made them rich.

America First! Right?

And while all of this is happening, they’re still covering up for a cabal of wealthy pedophiles and sex traffickers whose names remain conveniently redacted.

RELEASE THE DAMN FILES.

Please like, share, and subscribe to help us pop the AI bubble before it pops us —and remember: if the economy only works for billionaires, it’s not working at all.

—
Robert Cain
Author of Democracy for Sale: How Corporate Greed Is Corrupting Democracy and Endangering the Planet