America's New Consumer Divide

Chrystia Freeland reports new research that suggests that 10% of US households account for 50% of US consumer spending.

Remember how folk singers back in the 1960s used to complain about the conformity of mass culture?

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one 
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

Good news, reports Freeland: "mass affluence may be a thing of the past." Instead, the American future will offer many culturally fascinating contrasts between rich and poor.