I've posted about this elsewhere, but the easy way for AA to change this game would be to simply say spend $1, get 1 LP. So, you earn 100 points for $10 spent on XYZ website via shopping portal, but only earn 10 LP's. In other words, elite qualifying points do not equal spendable points.

This, of course, would highly deceptive as there's no indication of this, and we've been blatantly promised that miles earned will equal loyalty points. If hotels, shopping portal, etc. in absence of any language indicating "bonus" mileage, the only way to interpret this is that miles earned equal LP's earned.