With Chinese Saving Rate at 50% and American at 0%, US Government Tried to ... Convince China to Spend More and Save Less!

In his blog, John Mugarian had an epiphany on why the Chinese have a saving rate of 50% whereas America has an essentially zero - ZERO! - saving rate:

I get very frustrated when I watch TV because of all the advertisements. I know, I should get Tivo or a DVR, but thus far I haven't.

A few weeks ago I decided to do something odd. I actually counted the minutes of ads while watching ABC's "Boston Legal". After I tallied the numbers I was shocked that 25 minutes of the hour long program were advertisements. This really frustrated me since I pay a fee to a cable company to watch my own TV, and then they waste 25 minutes of my time trying to sell me something during the show. Television is nothing more than a sales tool that has molded and shaped the minds and spending habits of consumers.

Then it hit me. Now I know why America has a zero savings rate, while the Chinese have a savings rate of 50%. Hence, my 4th quarter score above stands, Chinese 50%, the US 0%.

So, what is the American government doing about our dismal national saving rate? Well, for one, they went to China and tell them to save less! Mungarian wrote:

In Barron's (December 11, 2006, page 30), Al Hubbard, the assistant secretary to the president for economic policy told China's deputy finance minister, ““the Chinese need to move to a lower savings rate. It would both raise the standard of living and increase the quality of imports into China."

I would have loved to see the face of China's deputy finance minister after Hubbard made those comments. This is like taking financial advice from a person who (Lending Tree commercial) is "up to their eyeballs in debt".

Link - via Memetician (photo: s2photo [Flickr], edited)

Well, spending does keep the economy afloat. Can't have wages, profit, if you there's no one on the other side spending...

But the American saving rate is pitiful. Actually, wouldn't the rate be negative, considering most Americans are in debt?
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I was about to say, tomtheman5, that I just took a personal finance course last semester, and, yeah, negative savings right now, bottoming out a trend over the last 20 years to save less and less.
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Quick comment, obviously having a negative savings rate is not that good, but too high of one isn't fantastic. I was in China for a semester abroad and one of my classes mention their absurdly high savings rate as a problem since the money isn't doing anything in most cases.
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In the days following 9/11, I noticed that in every speech, President Bush worked in the phrase "go out and shop" over and over again: "I'm glad to see women going out shopping with their Muslim friends," and "I'm glad to see Americans aren't afraid to go out and shop." are a few examples. Someone else noticed, did a little research, and wrote an article about how 2/3 of America's economy comes from the middle class buying products made overseas in malls. Sadly, this is a formula that our government will never take steps to fix.
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Hmm, wages have flattened or gone down the last 20 years. Consumer goods, food and energy have gone up up up. If only we could put some "top...men" on it to figure out why we aren't saving enough.

Our Motto: Apocalyp...I mean, America: Still Blindly Consuming!
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"So, what is the American government doing about our dismal national saving rate? "

So, why do you expect the government to do something about the dismal savings rate? The problem is the government; more specifically, leftist politicians who want people to rely on the government for everything, and write policy accordingly.
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One solution... Get rid of cable and rent your favorite shows on dvd from (insert favorite online dvd rental company here). For about a third of the price you would pay for basic cable, you could watch all the best shows without the commercials.
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#12 - this is exactly what we did. I haven't seen any commercial tv in two years and don't miss it a bit. When I'm somewhere there's a tv, it's almost assaultive.

While saving that $80/month (for basic cable!), we get the added bonus that our 27 month old speaks in complete & detailed sentences, has well developed social skills, is amazingly polite, doesn't know what a commercial is, doesn't know what a "product tie-in" is, and never begs for crap he saw on tv. We are ecstatic that his first choice for fun is to play outside or read a book or play with his blocks.
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Jerse:

"According to the BEA, the national annual savings rate fell in 2005 to its lowest point since the Great Depression: negative 0.4 percent. Since then, it has continued to fall, registering at negative 1.6 percent in May 2006 and negative 1.5 percent in June. Compare those numbers with 1985 when the national savings rate hit a record 11.1 percent and it's clear why economists are raising the warning flag." from BankRate

Google "American savings rate" and you'll see many other sources stating it's below 0%.
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Our "savings" rate is so low, because savings accounts are just about the stupidest place to put your money. Which is what this statistic is measuring: how many people have money in savings accounts. You're essentially getting 1-2% return above inflation (at best) to let a bank go and invest your money and pocket the difference. I have zero savings, but lots of money invested in my 401k, mutual funds, and money market accounts. I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on the future, but according to you I'm doing terrible.
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Here was a time when people in the U.S. were able to pursue happiness, which includes wealth. it's not yours, it is theirs--they earned it. but as quizerry stated, it is unfair? to levy only wealthy because it punishes success, which is exactly what the NWO wants so they get to set up an "agency" to oversee this task and all the while making money off it.
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Here was a time when people in the U.S. were able to pursue happiness, which includes wealth. it's not yours, it is theirs--they earned it. but as quizerry stated, it is unfair? to levy only wealthy because it punishes success, which is exactly what the NWO wants so they get to set up an "agency" to oversee this task and all the while making money off it.
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