Americans are the first of the big spenders.
13 Among twenty major countries, the U. S. ranks third from last in individual willingness to save, putting aside a bare 4% of disposable income.
A key reason is world-beating U. S. consumer debt, which has ballooned in 20 years from $100 billion to $900 billion. Things were not always thus. Thriftiness, not to say tightfistedness, used to be a Yankee (美国人的) virtue. As recently as 1984, Americans were saving 8% of their after-tax income. The image of Americans as spoiled children is fairly new, though now firmly established.
14 Instead of putting something aside for a rainy day, Americans now start saving only when recession hits, while in other parts of the world like Asia, higher savings are associated with prosperity and growth.
Savings also help maintain that happy state of affairs. Capital accumulation funds capital investment, so it comes as no surprise that as in savings, the U. S. lags in investment: 18.5% of GDP in 1994 against 24.8% for Germany, 28.9% for Japan and even more for Asia"s Young Tigers.
Given the right encouragement, can Americans become born-savers again If not, Joseph Gorman, CEO of TRW Inc., the $8 billion American auto-components manufacturer, warns, "
15 Macro-economists would argue that we are condemned to run a big trade deficit because our country consumes far more than it saves, and other countries save far more than they consume.
So goods are going to flow largely to the consumers, but the capital profits and the jobs will flow to the producers, who are the savers." In other words, Americans will be the grasshoppers (蚱蜢) in a world of ants.