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PersonalSavings posts

Savings rate hits 14-year high

Posted Mar 2nd 2009 2:20PM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Economic Data, Personal Finance, Recession

Here's a silver lining to that dark cloud some folks are calling the worst economic environment since the Great Depression: the savings rate is up.

Nervous about the other shoe dropping, Americans are stashing away extra funds for a rainy day. In large part, cash collected from bonus payments, cost-of-living raises, or holiday gifts were saved rather than spent in January, lifting the personal savings rate to its highest since March 1995, at 5.0%. Just last year, the personal savings rate was hovering at an unimpressive 0.1%. From the 1950s through the early 1980s, however, the savings rate was closer to 10%. Viewed on an annual basis, the personal savings rate hit a new record of $545.5 billion.

Continue reading Savings rate hits 14-year high

Is the U.S. in a 'growth recession'?

Posted Nov 21st 2007 6:27PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Forecasts, Other Issues, China, Russia, Middle East, Canada, Eastern Europe, Federal Reserve

There's an old Wall Street adage that goes, "Sometimes the Street's chorus is a chorus of two."

And there's perhaps no better example of that than the current debate over the strength of the U.S. economy. Professionals in the Concrete Canyon have been amassing on either side of two camps for months: "The U.S. economy is headed toward recession" or "The U.S. economy will continue to grow."

Still, as history demonstrates, and contrary to the current 'chorus' on Wall Street, sometimes there are more than two options. For example, what if the U.S. economy is headed toward a growth recession? I.E. a protracted period of sub-trend GDP growth.

Continue reading Is the U.S. in a 'growth recession'?