Why Trump's prosperous supporters are angry too? Low savings rates...

[laughing_paddler]

Add this to the implications of low savings rates pile...


http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-07-19/why-trump-s-prosperous-supporters-are-angry-too

[boarder42]

That was a great read from the economic standpoint that Americans throw money in the toilet they just don't get finance.

[aceyou]

Yeah, the terrible savings rate in our country really is embarrassing.  The fact that our country even has a national debt of more than one dollar is embarrassing.  I mean, we are the richest country in the history of the world.  And we say, nah, even though we have more money to spend than anyone has ever had, we should borrow from countries less rich than ourselves so we can have even MORE shit.  It's amazing to me. 

[slugline]

All that income and still unable/unwilling to save. Yeah, I guess if I was a spending junkie, I'd be cranky too when the drug is taken away.

[Mississippi Mudstache]

Insanity. But I doubt you'll see much difference in savings rates if you look across the political spectrum. Lack of thrift is an ecumenical problem, but political ideology leads to different solutions. "Ban immigration and free trade" vs. "Free college and stronger safety nets".

[Jack]

The fact that our country even has a national debt of more than one dollar is embarrassing.

No it isn't. What would be embarrassing would be having the ability to borrow money at negative interest rates (net of inflation) and not availing ourselves of it.

It's the same reason I don't pre-pay my mortgage, but on a macroeconomic scale.

That said, our choices of what to use that borrowed money for really is embarrassing!

[vhalros]

Yeah, the terrible savings rate in our country really is embarrassing.  The fact that our country even has a national debt of more than one dollar is embarrassing.  I mean, we are the richest country in the history of the world.  And we say, nah, even though we have more money to spend than anyone has ever had, we should borrow from countries less rich than ourselves so we can have even MORE shit.  It's amazing to me.

Sovereign debt isn't always bad, particularly with the very low interest rates we are currently getting. If we put that money to good use, it would be a bad idea *not* to borrow at such low rates.

[talltexan]

The high amount of Sovereign debt is actually because of private saving by American citizens. Many older people are demanding risk-free places to put their savings, and Gov't debt is there for them, available at ever cheaper yields. The Chinese own less than 20% of US debt.

[GrumpyPenguin]

At face value the argument does sound reasonable, but as another poster pointed out, does savings rate really differ between progressive and regressives?  I doubt it, but would need to see the data.

[Kaspian]

"Yet Americans keep spending money. That is the root of the problem, and even the financial crisis significantly boosted savings rates for only a short while." 

Most of this article could be directly applied to Sanders supporters as well.  Most of them were broke white dudes, who spent all their money on gizmos/coffee, felt the economy had been stolen from them, and wanted free shit.  At the root, there was very little difference between Trump/Sanders people other than the average age.

[MrStash2000]

Mine's at 65%

[aceyou]

The fact that our country even has a national debt of more than one dollar is embarrassing.

No it isn't. What would be embarrassing would be having the ability to borrow money at negative interest rates (net of inflation) and not availing ourselves of it.

It's the same reason I don't pre-pay my mortgage, but on a macroeconomic scale.

That said, our choices of what to use that borrowed money for really is embarrassing!

Ok, fair enough I guess.  I guess I wouldn't be complaining about debt if we spent the money on kick ass energy infrastructure...solar/wind/nuclear/etc or something cool like that. 

[FireLane]

The part of this story that really stood out to me was that China has an average household savings rate of 30%. And that's taking into account that their per capita GDP is much lower than the US. They're putting us to shame. China is a nation of Mustachians!

[Mississippi Mudstache]

The fact that our country even has a national debt of more than one dollar is embarrassing.

No it isn't. What would be embarrassing would be having the ability to borrow money at negative interest rates (net of inflation) and not availing ourselves of it.

It's the same reason I don't pre-pay my mortgage, but on a macroeconomic scale.

That said, our choices of what to use that borrowed money for really is embarrassing!

Ok, fair enough I guess.  I guess I wouldn't be complaining about debt if we spent the money on kick ass energy infrastructure...solar/wind/nuclear/etc or something cool like that.

That would certainly be a good start.

[dragoncar]

The part of this story that really stood out to me was that China has an average household savings rate of 30%. And that's taking into account that their per capita GDP is much lower than the US. They're putting us to shame. China is a nation of Mustachians!

So they can retire in 58 years?  Yay! 

I think any discussion of saving should also consider that paying taxes into social safety nets is an overlooked form of saving.

[talltexan]

National Savings rate is calculated based on trade balance, so at least part of that Chines Savings rate is attributed to their high volume of exports, which has very little to do with Mustachianism.

[libertarian4321]

The part of this story that really stood out to me was that China has an average household savings rate of 30%. And that's taking into account that their per capita GDP is much lower than the US. They're putting us to shame. China is a nation of Mustachians!

So they can retire in 58 years?  Yay! 

I think any discussion of saving should also consider that paying taxes into social safety nets is an overlooked form of saving.

"I think any discussion of saving should also consider that paying taxes into social safety nets is an extremely inefficient and wasteful form of saving."

Fixed that for you...

[dragoncar]

The part of this story that really stood out to me was that China has an average household savings rate of 30%. And that's taking into account that their per capita GDP is much lower than the US. They're putting us to shame. China is a nation of Mustachians!

So they can retire in 58 years?  Yay! 

I think any discussion of saving should also consider that paying taxes into social safety nets is an overlooked form of saving.

"I think any discussion of saving should also consider that paying taxes into social safety nets is an extremely inefficient and wasteful form of saving."

Fixed that for you...

I'm surprised you feel that way!