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The Problem With the Peloton Economy
It’s not just a distraction — it’s a damaging sideshow
It’s been widely — indeed, endlessly — noted that Peloton has been a rare “winner” of the pandemic. With gyms reeling, many have opted for the high-tech home bike system, which involves a $1,900 piece of hardware and a $39 monthly subscription for custom exercise classes. The latest dramatic twist: Now the eight-year-old publicly traded company is reportedly “threatened” by its own struggles to meet the demand and fulfill orders for impatient customers. “The hype surrounding Peloton is like no other,” one analyst told the New York Times earlier this week.
This insulated slice of America — the million or so Peloton owners and their professional-class peers Zooming and home-ordering from Whole Foods through the pandemic recession — is the Peloton Economy. It’s gotten quite a bit of attention in a year when health and economic forces have simultaneously upturned and ended lives month after month. But ultimately, we need to face up to the fact that the Peloton Economy is not a bellwether — it’s a warning signal underscoring a serious problem that should be a top priority not just for the new Biden-Harris administration, but for business at large.
For the millions of Americans who experienced the coronavirus era as a calamity of lost jobs, lost health care, and stunted wages, the Peloton Economy is an alternate universe. As Marker’s Steve LeVine noted recently in a skeptical take on the theory that we’re entering a new Roaring Twenties, “The pandemic has deepened the modern U.S. wealth gap: The top 1% holds 15 times as much wealth as the bottom half combined.”
Covid-19 obviously did not cause income inequality, but as with so many issues, the virus has laid bare and exacerbated this deep national flaw. DealBook’s Andrew Ross Sorkin recently reported on a manifesto-like document being circulated by an advisory group to JPMorgan Chase, made up of business and policy leaders. Their message in part: “Unless and until the core problem of inequality is addressed, all other overarching objectives and desires will remain elusive.” In other words, business has “a commercial stake in advocating for a fairer, more equitable system” because that’s what expands the marketplace in the long run. The big-picture…
