Call it America’s $11 trillion advantage: Consumer spending is likely to steer the U.S. The combination of more jobs, falling gasoline prices and low borrowing costs will help lift household purchases. “We’ve got a lot of things working in favor of the consumer right now,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist in Lexington, Massachusetts, at IHS Inc. “To have that kind of strength is the biggest asset for the U.S. Household purchases make up almost 70 percent of the $16.8 trillion U.S.