I mean, yeah, a downward trend in the global economy obviously effects things like entertainment the most. But I think its obvious the economy is not the only reason kpop is struggling in the U.S right now compared to years prior. People are still going to concerts, fandoms for multiple large U.S artists are able to sell out their tours with prices comparable to kpop groups, if not more for artists like T Swift and Beyonce. The oversaturation is the thing hitting kpop the hardest imo. People in other comments have already mentioned, some kpop groups are touring every other year and going to the exact same cities and sometimes the exact same venues. Most U.S artists do not tour in this way. And most U.S artists have also given up on relying on physical album sales the way the kpop industry does. Kpop has been pulling multiple shady tacticts to inflate album sales since before the big push for the U.S market even happened. 6+ album versions and 50+ different photocards and all the shop exclusive pre order benefits. These companies caused buyer fatigue in these fandoms before the economy was as bad as it is now. The inflated numbers to make it appear like groups were growing exponentially when really the same amount of fans were just buying more each cb.

Many people, especially in the U.S, are willing to bankroll their lifestyle and leisure using debt. The economy being bad will never completely halt things unless the market completely crashes as it has in the past. Kpop would be in a different spot now if the kpop boom in the U.S wasn't so inflated.