Americans are still spending — not because they're thriving, but because groceries and gas don't become optional just because they cost more, and the savings they're burning to afford them just hit a four-year low.

The financial press is celebrating "resilient consumers" after second-quarter GDP data showed spending up 3.2%. Buried in the numbers: the personal savings rate has collapsed to 2.7%, the lowest since 2022, meaning families are draining reserves just to stay even. Meanwhile, inflation has sat above the Federal Reserve's 2% target for more than five years, and a foreign war the American people didn't vote for is keeping energy prices elevated.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that GDP grew at just 1.5% in Q2, below the 1.8% economists expected and down from 2.1% in Q1. Imports — driven by a surge in AI-related computer chip shipments — shaved 1.5 percentage points off growth. As Fitch Ratings' Olu Sonola put it: "The consumer rescued the quarter," but "an AI boom does not automatically translate into an equally large boost to U.S. GDP."

The PCE price index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, rose 3.7% year-over-year in June. Core inflation, stripping out food and energy, sat at 3.3%. Both remain well above the 2% target that hasn't been met in over half a decade. On a quarterly basis, headline PCE surged 5.1%.

AP and the Guardian both framed the story around consumers who "continued to spend" and a "resilient" economy. CNBC, to its credit, reported the detail the others soft-pedaled: "consumers dipped into their savings to make ends meet. The personal savings rate declined to 2.7%, the lowest in four years."

That's not resilience. That's attrition.

The Iran war — launched when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February — sent energy prices spiking, and the effects are still rippling through the economy. Gasoline fell 9.2% in June on a temporary easing of fighting, and energy goods and services dropped 5.9%, according to CNBC. But oil remains well above prewar levels. A collapsed peace deal between the U.S. and Iran pushed prices back up. Every dollar drained by elevated energy costs is a dollar that doesn't reach an American small business or a family savings account.

The Fed voted 9-3 Wednesday to leave its benchmark rate unchanged at 3.5%-3.75% for the fifth straight meeting. Three regional Fed presidents dissented, pushing for rate hikes — the most same-direction dissents in a decade, the Guardian noted. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has acknowledged inflation has remained too high for years.

The job market has improved from a dismal 2025, when fewer than 10,000 jobs per month were added amid high rates and tariff uncertainty. Employers are now averaging 92,000 per month. But hiring alone doesn't solve the cost-of-living crisis. Two-thirds of Americans — including 49% of Republicans — say they have little faith the federal government will address the prices they face, according to a Harris Poll cited by the Guardian.

The press calls it resilience. The numbers say savings are at a four-year low. The question heading into November isn't whether Americans are still spending — it's how much longer they can afford to.