A shopper carries a Puma store bag in New York on September 6. Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Americans hate this economy, but they keep spending like they love it.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that consumer spending rose 0.6% in August. Although that may not sound like a lot, it represented significantly stronger growth than economists had expected.

The report wasn’t an outlier: Retail sales also rose 0.6% in August, the Commerce Department said in a separate report two weeks ago. Corporate earnings and sales have proven resilient in the past quarter, with many companies saying customers continue to give them business despite concerns about a flagging economy. And a revised report issued Thursday on the second-quarter gross domestic product, the broadest me

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