One good thing from the recession. Americans rate of savings is up

[RB TexLa]

5.7% for October is really pitiful but it's far better than the 2 to 1 % we had before the downturn.

[virgogal]

1. That is good news---maybe people are finally getting smart.

[bluerum]

2. But wait - aren't we supposed to be spending our way out of the recession?

Or is that just for the unemployed who have to spend every cent to keep from freezing and starving.

Forgive me if I seem bitter.

[RB TexLa]

3. I'm not contributing to any spending out of anything, I deserve to keep my money.

[bluerum]

10. Oh. Are you one of those banks or businesses that are sitting on piles'o cash?u

[Imperialism Inc.]

4. That isn't "from" the recession, it is the cause of it!

[RB TexLa]

5. before the economy turned, the rate of savings was at 2 to 1%

[Imperialism Inc.]

6. The recession is caused by the sharp decrease in spending.

I'm not making a value judgement but people saving , which includes paying down debt in that number, is the cause of the recession, not something that came from it.

[TheKentuckian]

7. It is certainly not the cause at all, which is systemic but it does hurt demand

which slows the economy further.

If every saved cent was spent (excluding the wealthy, who are under taxed and are not encourage to exchange cash for reinvestment in productive areas so have nothing of consequence to purchase that would reduce substantially what they sit on), we'd still have trillions of dollars of hole to fill and will have done nothing about the insane distribution of wealth which leaves little chance for bottom up growth or much spending beyond subsistence.

[doc03]

8. Why save the interest rates are the lowest in history, Americans

just don't make sense.

[AdHocSolver]

9. The Fed sets the low interest rates as part of the stock market and real estate Ponzi schemes.

It is too bad that a lot of Americans don't complain to their banks about the rates being set so far below their "true market" value.