The economy looks strong on the surface, but the strength is borrowed — bad news for workers and anyone counting on the current spending boom to last.

• AI spending has propped up growth for the past four years and hidden a lot of damage underneath.
• Tariffs, oil, war, and shaky private lending are all bleeding the economy at once.
• Rising stock prices make people feel rich, so they keep spending on travel, food, and shopping while savings fall to almost nothing.
• That spending runs on credit, and when lenders stop financing it, the spending stops with it.
• Layoffs would then hit a job market already too weak to absorb them, which is why employment is the last thing to break.

Outlook: The boom holds up only as long as the AI cycle and easy credit do, and neither looks built to last.