Posted on 12/20/2009 7:50:58 AM PST by FromLori
This was the year of the return to financial sobriety — if you judge such things by the nation’s personal savings rate.
That rate — which was 4.4 percent in October, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis — subtracts what we collectively spend from what we make and then expresses the result in percentage terms. In 2009, it has ranged from a low of 3.4 percent in February to a high of 6.4 percent in May, which was the highest figure since 1993.
In the decade and a half since that last high, gains in the stock market and housing prices gave people the confidence to spend more, and looser credit standards made it easy. That caused the savings rate to fall. But all of that is over for now — or perhaps forever.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
And then the Fed comes in and cuts the value of those dollars saved, thereby putting them back at square one.
The giant sucking sound came home to roost.
Exactly! What is the point of saving if the value of the money is being destroyed by inflation?
This is somewhat because of the economists' academic definition of savings. If one takes $1000 and buys a Treasury bond, it is not considered saving. If one takes $1000 and pays down a 29.99% credit card, it is considered saving. Sorry NYT, the consumer, and by extension the US (and Chinese) economy remains in deep poo, IMO.
I read that over half of plastic purchases are made with debit cards now, not credit cards. Which is a little scary.
I buy a box of .45 and a box of 9mm whenever I get extra $$s!
That is the WRONG question. What are we going to do about it? And don’t say “We’ll beat them in 2010.” Three reasons why that is not a valid answer:
1. The same crooks that created this problem don’t have enough opposition to make a difference;
2. RATs always cheat; and
3. Are you 100% sure that there will be an election in 2010?
Don’t ask me for an answer; I’ll get banned.
Deo vinndice
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.