Here's something odd: Consumer spending is drifting upward, raising hopes for an economic recovery. Yet the unemployment rate is spiking like a scary fever, with jobs more scarce than at any time since the 1930s.

    Does this make sense? Where are unemployed consumers getting the money to buy new stuff? Are we so addicted to spending that we're forking over every last dime to get that doorbuster special?

    Doubtful. The answers aren't sitting there in the usual statistics, but some educated guesswork might help explain who's spending and who isn't-while exposing a myth or two about the so-called recovery. The latest data shows that consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in October, while incomes rose just 0.2 percent. Since spending went up by more than income, that suggests consumers must be drawing down their savings to buy stuff.

    But hold on-the saving rate fell by just a tiny fraction in the latest data, and in general it's been going up all year. So if people are spending more, it must be coming from somewhere other than a boost in income or a drawdown in savings. Household debt has been going down too, so consumers aren't financing new purchases by taking out loans or driving up their credit-card balances. The only other explanation would be a boost in people's assets that is providing an extra pool of cash for purchases.

    Housing, the biggest asset for most families, is still falling in value in most areas. But look at that stock market! Up 23 percent for the year and 65 percent or so since it hit bottom in March. That has replaced lost wealth for some consumers and, presumably, made them more comfortable spending money.

    The other big beneficiaries of the bull market are wealthy and upper-middle-income Americans with spare money to invest and plenty of savings set aside if they lose their jobs or have other problems. And the numbers suggest that affluent consumers are indeed the ones who feel like a recovery is at hand-a stock-market recovery, that is. They're probably the ones who are actually spending more. Maybe the only ones.

    The usual economic data doesn't break down spending by income category. But wealthy consumers buy a disproportionate share of stuff, so it makes sense that any rise in spending could be attributed largely or entirely to them. The top 10 percent of earners account for 22 percent of all spending, for instance, according to Moody's Economy.com. The top 25 percent of all earners account for 45 percent of spending. The bottom 50 percent of earners, by contrast, spend just 29 percent of all the money in the consumer economy.

    有一些蹊跷：消费指数直线彪升，涨势好像预示了经济的复苏。然而失业指数还是高热不消，目前是至1930年以来失业率最高的。

    失业人群用来消费的钱是哪里来的？我们是不是在花我们手里最后的10美分？

    怀疑。答案并不能在指数上看到，但是许多经济学家可以帮助我们解释，谁花钱了，谁没有-暴露关于复苏的神话。最后的数据显示在10月消费指数上升0.7%,收入增加0.2%.可看出花费多于收入。有专家建议，消费者应该控制他们的花费。

    继续-存款漏洞在这一年中不段扩大，如果人们消费更多，就因该可以从更多的方面得到收入。一家人的债务现在正在下降，所以消费者们的新消费目标可以使他们的信用卡和借贷保持平衡。

    另一个对于消费者来说的利益并是美国给那些消费高的客户提供了保险，以防止他们万一失业或者遇到其他的困难。消费者还是认识目前经济正在复苏。

    但是富有的消费者以及不平衡的消费指数，这将导致消费危机的出现。根据Moody的经济分析，前10%的消费者，花费了近的22%,前25%的消费者，花费了45%,在最后的50%的消费着仅花费了29%.