The takeaway bullets seem almost non-sequitur. I don't know what those numbers mean for consumer sentiment index, but the absolute level of consumer confidence

The takeaway bullets seem almost non-sequitur. I don't know what those numbers mean for consumer sentiment index, but the absolute level of consumer confidence is still higher for higher income groups. The fact that it has dropped for everything, but more steeply for higher income, doesn't seem like it has to be related to any causal phenomenon beyond basic diminishing marginal utility. When you're down in the dumps already, you don't have as far to fall. You may as well draw a bunch of weird conclusions about mindsets and possible reasons when you find an MMA fighter at the end of a fight half passed out on the mat, kick him in the face, also kick a random bystander in the face, and find the random bystander has more of a reaction. The first hit hurts a lot more than the 100th.