Ping!
Banks save
The bail-out and stimulus money will be hoarded until their are tax cuts for the rich
I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I’m just not into spending right now. About a year ago I started concentrating on paying down debt. It’s nearly half of what it was.
I have everything I need. My one bedroom apartment serves my needs. I have over 300 books in my library - mostly history with some anthropology - 2 TVs, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. My laptops may be a couple years old but still good. I drive a 12 year old car that does just fine. What more do I need? Someday I might breakdown and buy an HD TV, but I’m still waiting for my old TV to die and for the prices to drop more.
When doing laundry I discarded worn out clothes - too many holes. I had to breakdown and spend a hundred bucks on clothes - 2 pair of slacks, 1 shirt and several pair of socks.
Why do I suspect that this number: Recent data for January showed that the personal savings rate of Americans jumped up to 5%. This is the highest rate since 1995.
Does not feel like savings to some of the people saving money. I suspect that some of that increased saving rate is people who are making their payments but are simply unable to take on any more debt. i.e. they “saved” $3000 by reducing their debts by $3000, so they still have no money on hand.