Cramer explains the economy by looking at the cost of potato chips and microchips

• CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday opined on the economy, remarking on the country's sizeable wealth gap using a "chip" analogy.
• He said wealthy investors and businesses are devouring microchip companies while the cash-strapped consumer balks at the inflated cost of food items like potato chips.

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Thursday opined on the economy, remarking on the country's sizeable wealth gap using a "chip" analogy. He said wealthy investors and businesses are devouring microchip companies while the cash-strapped consumer balks at the inflated cost of food items like potato chips.

"The bottom line is that the paths of the people who invest in the microchips, or the enterprises that buy them, are very different from the paths of people buying knock-off potato chips, and, perhaps, never the twain shall meet," he said. "At least unless something big changes, and I've got to tell you – my crystal ball, it can't see that far."

He noted that Nvidia shares shot up so much that its investors would not know the price difference between name-brand and generic potato chips. Meanwhile, the pandemic has ushered in an inflated economy where most Americans have trouble comfortably buying food, let alone investing in stocks like Nvidia.

"The contrast between the haves and the have-nots, I find, is disconcerting, and I hope you do too, he said. "The cost of food is sapping the average consumer, and it seems like no one has the ability to do anything about it."

Unlike potato chips, costly microchips deliver businesses such large returns on their investments that they're addictive, he added, saying they're essential to new generative artificial intelligence products. Cramer pointed out that some Big Tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg are making it clear they "can't just eat one" microchip, with Zuckerberg announcing Meta would spend billions on Nvidia's AI chips.

"Maybe one day the productivity gains we get from these microchips will make potato chips more affordable," Cramer said.

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Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Nvidia.

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