Per Josh Steiner (Hedgeye's Financials Analyst): "My word of the day is Plutocracy. The high end consumer is bouncing back much stronger than the low end.  The following is a chart from JPMorgan’s investor day (going on now) that shows the different levels of recovery in spending volume based on household income levels."

Per Wikipedia: "Plutocracy is rule by the wealthy, or power provided by wealth. In a plutocracy, the degree of economic inequality is high while the level of social mobility is low. This can apply to a multitude of government systems, as the key elements of plutocracy transcend and often occur concurrently with the features of those systems."

US Consumer, Steiner and Plutocracy - 2 25 2010 12 43 28 PM