So right you are. That's why I am spending all of them on necessities.
Posted on 07/07/2009 6:50:21 PM PDT by Kaslin
There may be a silver lining in the black cloud hanging over our economy: America's abysmal personal savings rate has taken a turn for the better.
Building on a steady increase in the personal savings rate — 2008's 1.8% increase, a 4.2% increase in 2009's first quarter and a 5.6% rise in April — the Commerce Department has reported that the U.S. personal savings rate climbed 6.9% in May.
While still early, this could signal a dramatic return to a more normal personal savings rate. It could also have profound repercussions at home and abroad as both economies recalibrate away from hyper-levered American consumers.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis calculates the savings rate to 1952. The first four decades of this 57-year period are remarkably stable: 8.1% in the 1950s, 8.3% in the '60s, 9.6% in the '70s and 9.1% in the '80s.
Then came the 1990s, cutting the percentage almost in half — to 5.2%. From 2000, the figure fell further — to 1.6% — and now this decade's savings rate is just a sixth of what it was two decades ago.
Interestingly, this low savings rate dramatically rebounded last year when, in the midst of a recession, it tripled from 2007's 0.6%. This reversed an anemically low rate that has prevailed since the 1990s.
Looking at the period from 1993 through 2007, the savings rate averaged 2.8%. That period, following the mild recession of 1990 and encompassing the equally mild one of 2001, marked the longest period of peacetime prosperity in American history.
It also encompasses the baby boom generation entering its peak earning years. Baby boomers are really the "entitlement generation." Never having lived without the government's social safety net, they have seen it only increase during their lifetime.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
Savings up? Don’t worry; the Democrats can take care of that abberation with a couple of quarters of inflation.
The formula they use (that came up with the 6.9%) does not necessarily mean that people are putting money aside. They could be using that money to pay-down debt, which is read the same as saving money.
It is a good thing, individually. But this is actually a gut-punch to the banks who depend on high interest payments to float their bad assets.
As wise as saving Zimbabwean dollars...
Conservatives certainly ought to be saving every dime they can. Troubled times lie ahead of us. An analyst on CNBC today predicted a stock market crash in October, so the pollyanna predictions of even that pro-BO network is starting to doubt his ruinous programs.
sw
I wonder if people looking at the unsustainable path of Zero’s fiscal policy are predicting massive tax hikes in the future and are adjusting their budgets now. David Ricardo came up with this idea. One implication of this is Zero’s porkulous will have no net effect on the economy except for a shift in resources from the private to gov’t sector.
This is kind of like saying, “The bad news is the patient has terminal cancer, but on the plus side the chemo will help him lose weight.”
I wonder how much cash and precious metal has been put in safety deposit boxes in the last year.
Soon saving will be called hoarding and savings will be confiscated for more government investments.
So right you are. That's why I am spending all of them on necessities.
yup!....Discovering why anybody would ever save seed corn!...........Its a slow process though!...*W*
Saving/hoarding what is about to be useless is illogical. Do not do it.
Today you can trade the fiat currency for useful necessities. Tomorrow? I am not so sure.
Gotta be that wonderful savings interest they are paying.
I’m getting a little over 1 percent. /s
Too true.
And once again Gold will not be worth zero.
As in the last depression private ownership will be banned, and the government will 'graciously' take it off you hands for a 'fair' price.
Last time that was $35/oz.
This time? Who knows? Maybe 10 times as much?...
Buy a tent, an axe and lots of ammo for your rifle. Obama is building a bridge to the 18th century.
.8% for me. (Note the decimel point).
I think obuma will pull some stunt. This thieving fascist thug is not about to allow Americans any wealth. He’ll declare the dollar dead and replace it with a UN note or Americo that pays 60% on the dollar.
You’re right about the desire to destroy/confiscate wealth.
These neo-noble-wannabes want to return us to a feudalistic system with the peasants living and dieing at their pleasure.
That being said, saving with inflation on the horizon is not a smart move. We put another real property under debt. If inflation hits and it’s not stagflation, then that debt can be paid off with cheap dollars.
Someone mentioned gold. Maybe, but it’s pretty high already as the smart money was already in it.
Brass, lead, powder and primers might be the new currency.
I’ve heard the buying binge is on the wane, so pick up a box a week now, if you can.
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