host: joining us this morning is mark zandi chief economist for moody's analytics here to talk about the u.s. economy's reliance on high income earners. talk about your research and what did you find. what is the headline? guest: thank you for the opportunity. the american economy is very dependent on the spending of the well-to-do, the folks in the top part of the income and wealth distribution. to give you a stats to make that concrete. the folks in the top 10% of the income distribution account for almost 50% of the personal outlays that we do as consumers. that gives you a sense of context. in -- it obviously goes to the strength of their financial is -- finances and the wage growth is strong. they have been enjoying record stock prices and housing values. if they have any debt it is a 30 year fixed rate mortgage. they are in a good financial spot. and folks in the bottom part of the income distribution, the lower income households, they are struggling. obviously, they do not own stocks and they may not own a home. they have credit card debt and consumer finance loans to take on t

joining me now is moody's analytics chief economist mark zandi. mark, always good to have you.ngly pressured ukraine into this agreement, even though he's long been critical of green energy like wind and solar and electric power, all things that require the various minerals the us will get access to in this deal. why is trump interested in these minerals? in what way would they be a boon to the us? >> oh goodness. >> i'll speculate. >> as to. >> what his what. >> the motivations are. >> i mean. >> i think there are economic. and political. >> i mean. >> in terms. >> of the economi >> these critical. >> raw materials. >> you know, everything. >> from. >> graphite to titanium. >> lithium, uranium. >> long list. >> go into lots. >> of different products. >> some of which you. >> mentioned. >> you know, batteries for. >> evs. >> but they're key to cell. >> phones and other. >> consumer electronics. >> or key to a lot of. >> defense equipment. >> a lot of high tech. >> gear, you know. >> very, very important. >> and right now. >> the us. >> relies very heavily on china for those tho

key manufacturing data which showed katrina ell, of moody's analytics. for february, but i think when we're looking at some neutral threshold. landscape isly important, and that's still showing that it's still quite a downbeat picture, unfortunately. well, there are small meetings being held later this week. the national people's congress leadership meet front—and—centre. been released. policy being more proactive will mean that they will what they previously have. do you think the big are slow growth, struggling market, 7? 77 market, employment and like �* external factors 7 the trump terrace like the trump terrace having an effect?— an effect? �*g'gel has; hltrhs *"'*" ’ on the head with iheadwinds facing china. i think tariff policy is a key the tariff delicy is a key for at the tariff delicy is: a hex! for at the end -e—— the day, manufacturing and of the day, manufacturing and exports with a key support to economy last 7 7 economy last year 7 7 economy last year and 7 the economy'tast year and that ggfogltunatelycthat is not to ggfogtu nately., that is not to this ggfogltunatelycthat is not to this year. at going to remain this year

. >> joining us right now is mark zandi chief economist at moody's analytics. of course it's good to see you again mark. so what we just heard there from the treasury secretary is something that i have heard multiple times now in interviews with donald trump's top trade adviser. the tariffs are not going to cost consumers more in driving up prices. what do you say to that? >> uh. >> with warren buffett? >> i think they're going to raise prices. >> their attacks on american consumers. >> i mean, if. >> you. >> add up all of the tariffs that are now in play, those that have already. >> been imposed. >> like the 10% on china and those that are being discussed, like the 25% on canadian and mexican imports. add that all up, kate. uh, that will add, uh, about $1,250 to the typical american's bill over a period of a year. so could you kind of context, uh, and, you know, that assumes that the price increases related to the tariffs are kind of one off. you know, they're just they everyone passes those through to american consumers at the end of the story. but i'm not so