Americans Have Discovered Saving

We are not exactly turning from a Consumer Society into a Savings Society, but there may be a trend developing.

“Saving” has, of course, for decades been an ubiquity in our vocabulary. If we could buy a pair of shoes for $50, we were encouraged to buy two pair for $75 and “save” $25. It worked! Splendidly! So well, in fact, that we have “saved” ourselves almost to the brink of disaster. But, the trend is turning (if “trend” is the right word – it could just be an anomaly); James C. Cooper reports in the June 29 issue of BusinessWeek that we “socked away 5.7% of [our] earnings [In April of this year], the most in 14 years.” So, Americans are spending less. Not just individuals, but businesses also. Mine is one of them. I go to fewer luncheons, seminars and conferences, I have not upgraded my computer in almost two years, and I do not go driving all over town to meet a prospect for coffee unless we have had at least one serious, qualifying telephone conversation. I was a bit more liberal in this when gas was under $2 a gallon.

Have your spending habits changed this year? Are you saving more? Comments are welcome!