Over 90% of Americans have cut spending and plan to stay frugal through holidays: survey

Published

2 years ago

September 21, 2023

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Most American adults have cut spending this year, according to a new CNBC-Morning Consult survey, which also revealed that consumers plan to stay frugal through the holidays.

A whopping 92% of adults have cut back on discretionary spending over the past six months, CNBC found after polling 4,403 US adults last week.

Consumers were most skittish when shopping for clothes and dining out at restaurants — 63% and 62%, respectively.

The news site’s poll also showed that consumers at all income levels are feeling pinched by the economy. While labor strikes in Hollywood and Detroit provoke fresh uncertainty, inflation rose a surprisingly stiff 3.7% last month — still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

Fifty-five percent of lower-income households earning $50,000 or less annually told CNBC that their personal finances are suffering from the state of the US economy, while 61% of middle-income earners bringing in $50,000 to $100,000 are feeling the squeeze.

Even among the highest earners with annual incomes exceeding $100,000, 46% said they’re feeling the impact of the economy on their finances.

More than three-quarters of respondents, 76%, plan to cut back spending on non-essential items over the next six months, during retailers’ all-important holiday shopping season, while 62% said they plan on budgeting “sometimes” or “more often” in the upcoming months, CNBC found.

Meanwhile, 56% of surveyed respondents said they were spending less on entertainment outside the house despite reports of recent summer splurges on blockbuster movies and concert tours, namely Taylor Swifts sought-after Eras Tour, which is on track to amass a record-breaking $1 billion in sales, making it the highest-grossing tour ever.

Groceries saw the next-biggest budget reduction, with 54% of respondents saying they’re spending less at the supermarket, according to CNBC.

The results came just one week after the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ closely-watched Consumer Price Index showed that food prices rose 0.2% for the third consecutive month in August as the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs advanced 0.8%.

The index for pork edged 2.2% higher.

CNBC’s survey also showed that 53% of respondents will be cutting back on recreational travel spend, while 50% won’t be quick to splash out on electronics — a figure that could spell bad news for Apple, which is set to drop its “industry first” iPhone 15 on Sept. 22 for up to $899 depending on storage capacity.

The latest inflation numbers represent a stark slowdown from last summer when inflation hit a four-decade peak at 9.1%.

Still, it remains well above the Feds 2% goal and marks an acceleration from the previous two months.

In June, inflation bottomed out at 3%, and rose to 3.2% in July.

As Wall Street expected, rising gasoline costs were the main culprit of Augusts advance, ticking 10.6% higher last month and accounting for over half of the increase, the data showed.

As of Tuesday, the national average of a gallon of gas stood at $3.88, rising some eight cents in the span of a week, according to the American Automobile Association.

The most eye-watering prices were seen in some parts of California, where gas is running residents more than $6 in some parts of LA and as much as $7 in other parts of the state.

At this time last year, a gallon of gas was 18 cents cheaper nationally, AAA said.

And to make matters worse, relief doesnt appear to be on the horizon, at least not in the short term.

Chevron CEO Mike Wirth predicted that oil prices would get close to $100 a barrel.

Supply is tightening, inventories are drawing the trends would suggest, we are certainly on our way, we are getting close (to $100/bbl), Wirth, who heads the nations second largest energy producer, told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

US

Images of Trump among documents removed from latest Epstein files release

Published

4 hours ago

December 21, 2025

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Images of Trump among documents removed from latest Epstein files release

Pictures of Donald Trump are included among at least 16 documents that have disappeared from the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Democrats from the House Oversight Committee drew attention to the apparent removal of an image showing two printed pictures of Mr Trump in a desk draw.

One picture has Mr Trump standing surrounded by women in bathing suits, while the second appears to be an already known picture – partly obscured – of him, his wife Melania, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

After the Democrats flagged the missing image on Saturday, Sky News went back to the files online and confirmed that it did appear to be missing, despite the fact they downloaded it when the files were initially released on Friday.

The other photos removed from the trove of documents were almost all nude paintings of women in Epstein’s home.

Mr Trump has not commented on the release of the files and has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s case.

Sky News has contacted the DOJ for comment.

Questions over heavy redactions

Thousands of documents relating to the dead paedophile financier were made public by the DOJ on Friday – hours before a legal deadline following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Many of the pages were either partially or fully redacted, which the DOJ says is to protect the more than 1,200 victims and their families identified in them.

Some of Epstein’s victims, legal experts and members of the public have questioned whether this is the sole reason for the redactions, while the Oversight Democrats have claimed: “This is a White House cover-up.”

Ashley Rubright, who was abused for several years after meeting Epstein in Palm Beach when she was 15, told Sky News: “Seeing […] completely redacted pages, there’s no way that that’s just to protect the victims’ identities, and there better be a good reason. I just don’t know if we’ll ever know what that is.”

Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has represented some of Epstein’s victims, says she has been told that despite the heavy redactions, some compromising pictures of survivors and their names were left in the files released on Friday.

“We have had to notify the Department of Justice about names that should have been redacted that weren’t redacted,” she told Sky News.

“So this is further trauma to survivors, and apparently also some of the images of some of the survivors appear not to have been redacted, and they are nude or not completely dressed.

“This is a major concern because the law clearly indicates, and the judges have indicated, that the names and any identifying information of the survivors must be redacted.”

In a letter to the judges overseeing the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, US attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton acknowledged that a review “of this size and scope is vulnerable to machine error [or] instances of human error”.

He also said the DOJ had opted to redact the faces of women in photographs with Epstein “even where not all the women are known to be victims,” as it was not viewed as practical for the DOJ to identify every person in all the photos.

The methodology has led to some confusion and misled speculation online.

Many celebrities and public figures appear with Epstein in the photos published by the DOJ, often included without context.

There is no suggestion that these pictures imply anyone has done anything wrong, and many of those featured in them have denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Through its release, the Trump administration has claimed to be the most transparent in history, despite the fact Congress forced their hand by voting to make the files public by 19 December.

But some have been held back, with Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general and a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, saying more would follow in the coming weeks.

Many Democrats and some Republicans have criticised the partial release as failing to “comply with law,” as have lawyers including Ms Allred.

“So clearly, the law has been violated. And it’s the Department of Justice letting down the survivors once again,” she said.

She labelled the incomplete release of the files a “distraction”, adding: “This is not over, and it won’t be over until we get the truth and transparency for the survivors.”

Technology

AI was behind over 50,000 layoffs in 2025 — here are the top firms to cite it for job cuts

Published

6 hours ago

December 21, 2025

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AI was behind over 50,000 layoffs in 2025 — here are the top firms to cite it for job cuts

Sad female worker carrying her belongings while leaving the office after being fired

Isbjorn | Istock | Getty Images

Layoffs have been a defining feature of the job market in 2025, with several major companies announcing thousands of job cuts driven by artificial intelligence.

In fact, AI was responsible for almost 55,000 layoffs in the U.S. this year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

There were in total 1.17 million job cuts through 2025, the highest level since the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when there were 2.2 million layoffs announced by the end of the year.

In October, U.S. employers announced 153,000 job cuts, and there were over 71,000 job cuts in November, with AI being cited for over 6,000 for the month, per Challenger.

At a time when inflation bites, tariffs are adding to expenses, and firms are looking to carry out cost-cutting measures, AI has presented an attractive, short-term solution to the problem.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a study in November showing that AI can already do the job of 11.7% of the U.S. labor market and save as much as $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, healthcare, and other professional services.

Not everyone is convinced that AI is the real reason behind the dramatic job cuts, as Fabian Stephany, assistant professor of AI and work at the Oxford Internet Institute, previously told CNBC, that it might be an excuse.

Stephany said many companies that performed well during the pandemic “significantly overhired” and the recent layoffs might just be a “market clearance.”

“It’s to some extent firing people that for whom there had not been a sustainable long term perspective and instead of saying ‘we miscalculated this two, three years ago, they can now come to the scapegoating, and that is saying ‘it’s because of AI though,'” he added.

Here are the top firms that cited AI as part of their layoff and restructuring strategy in 2025.

Amazon

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during a keynote address at AWS re:Invent 2024, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, at The Venetian Las Vegas on December 3, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Noah Berger | Getty Images

In October, Amazon announced the largest ever round of layoffs in its history, slashing 14,000 corporate roles, as it looks to invest in its “biggest bets” which includes AI.

“This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we’ve seen since the Internet, and it’s enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before… we’re convinced that we need to be organized more leanly, with fewer layers and more ownership, to move as quickly as possible for our customers and business,” Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, wrote in a blog post.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy warned of the cuts earlier this year, telling employees that AI will shrink the company’s workforce and that the tech giant will need “fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs.”

Microsoft

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella appears at the CES event in Las Vegas on Jan. 9, 2024. The event typically doubles as a preview of how tech giants and startups will market their wares in the coming year and if early announcements are any indication, AI-branded products will become the new “smart” gadgets of 2024.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Microsoft has cut a total of around 15,000 jobs through 2025, and its most recent announcement in July saw 9,000 roles on the chopping block.

CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a memo to employees that the company needed to “reimagine” its “mission for a new era,” and went on to tout the significance of AI to the company.

“What does empowerment look like in the era of AI? It’s not just about building tools for specific roles or tasks. It’s about building tools that empower everyone to create their own tools. That’s the shift we are driving — from a software factory to an intelligence engine empowering every person and organization to build whatever they need to achieve,” Nadella said.

Salesforce

Marc Benioff, chief executive officer of Salesforce Inc., during the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025.

Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg | Getty Images

IBM

CEO of IBM Arvind Krishna looks on during a roundtable discussion hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Dec. 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

Global tech giant IBM’s CEO Arvind Krishna told the Wall Street Journal in May that AI chatbots had taken over the jobs of a few hundred human resources workers.

However, unlike other companies that had cited AI in job cuts, Krishna admitted that the firm had increased hiring in other areas that required more critical thinking, such as software engineering, sales, and marketing.

In November, the company announced a 1% global cut, which could impact nearly 3,000 employees.

Crowdstrike

Founder and CEO of CrowdStrike George Kurtz speaks during the Live Keynote Pregame during the Nvidia GTC (GPU Technology Conference) in Washington, DC, on Oct. 28, 2025.

Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

Cybersecurity software maker CrowdStrike said in May that it’s laying off 5% of its workforce or 500 employees, and directly attributed the cuts to AI.

“AI has always been foundational to how we operate,” co-founder and CEO George Kurtz wrote in a memo included in a securities filing. “AI flattens our hiring curve, and helps us innovate from idea to product faster. It streamlines go-to-market, improves customer outcomes, and drives efficiencies across both the front and back office. AI is a force multiplier throughout the business.”

Workday

Carl Eschenbach, CEO of Workday speaks on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 23, 2025.

Gerry Miller | CNBC

In February, HR platform Workday was one of the first companies this year to say its cutting 8.5% of its workforce, amounting to around 1,750 jobs, as the company invests more in AI.

Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach said the layoffs were needed to prioritize AI investment and to free up resources.

Politics

US lawmakers propose tax break for small stablecoin payments, staking rewards

Published

7 hours ago

December 21, 2025

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US lawmakers propose tax break for small stablecoin payments, staking rewards

US lawmakers have introduced a discussion draft that would ease the tax burden on everyday crypto users by exempting small stablecoin transactions from capital gains taxes and offering a new deferral option for staking and mining rewards.

The proposal, introduced by Representatives Max Miller of Ohio and Steven Horsford of Nevada, seeks to amend the Internal Revenue Code to reflect the growing use of digital assets in payments. The draft is set “to eliminate low-value gain recognition arising from routine consumer payment use of regulated payment stablecoins,” per the draft.

Under the draft, users would not be required to recognize gains or losses on stablecoin transactions of up to $200, provided the asset is issued by a permitted issuer under the GENIUS Act, pegged to the US dollar and maintains a tight trading range around $1.

The bill includes safeguards to prevent abuse. The exemption would not apply if a stablecoin trades outside a narrow price band, and brokers or dealers would be excluded from the benefit. Treasury would also retain authority to issue anti-abuse rules and reporting requirements.

*Draft bill explains the reasoning behind tax breaks. Source:* *House*

US bill defers taxes on crypto staking rewards

Beyond payments, the proposal addresses long-standing concerns around “phantom income” from staking and mining. Taxpayers would be allowed to elect to defer income recognition on staking or mining rewards for up to five years, rather than being taxed immediately upon receipt.

“This provision is intended to reflect a necessary compromise between immediate taxation upon dominion & control and full deferral until disposition,” the draft said.

The draft also extends existing securities lending tax treatment to certain digital asset lending arrangements, applies wash sale rules to actively traded crypto assets, and allows traders and dealers to elect mark-to-market accounting for digital assets.

Crypto groups urge Senate to rethink stablecoin rewards ban

Last week, the Blockchain Association sent a letter to the US Senate Banking Committee, signed by more than 125 crypto companies and industry groups, opposing efforts to extend restrictions on stablecoin rewards to third-party platforms.