President Donald Trump holds a chart as he delivers remarks on reciprocal tariffs during an event in the Rose Garden entitled "Make America Wealthy Again" at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2025. AFP via Getty Images The only thing keeping the US economy from falling off a cliff is AI spending : Without it, the nation’s growth numbers would be in the toilet, dragged down by an Iran war that’s goosing gasoline prices and sending US consumers straight to the poor house. That, at least, is the doom-and-gloom making the rounds in the mainstream media and on some parts of Wall Street lately — with Cassandras adding for good measure that the artificial-intelligence bubble is poised to pop any day now, leaving millions out of a job amid a cataclysm of corporate bankruptcies. Count me as skeptical. Ditto for plenty of less voluble market watchers who are tracking numbers closely. No — things aren’t perfect. Average Americans are feeling the sting of higher prices at the pump and at the grocery store.…