Savings are calculated by the US commerce department which uses the method of subtracting spending from to total income to estimate how much is saved. This rate shows a down ward trend over time, but from a households point of view, dollars saved in the bank can be misleading if there is a change in assets like realestate, stocks, and bonds which are the savings for many households.
Thus a house's net worth may increase with the onset of Asset price inflation(stock prices) because sometimes savings are connected to stocks&bonds. Thus if a house's net worth increases than it is possible that the falling savings rate does not indicate unreasonable spending.
Yale economist William D. Nordhaus suggests that savings are over 50% of GDP, and that there is now downward trend.
http://books.google.com/books?id=nk-QXKu6DhgC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=william+D.+Nordhaus+genuine+national+savings+rate&source=bl&ots=jmDT-2L9Ek&sig=aHX__SynU7G4u3Pd0FtRXL_2_1U&hl=en&ei=SgnPS5WoDIbGlQeku8ChCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=william%20D.%20Nordhaus%20genuine%20national%20savings%20rate&f=falseIn any event I remeber how often people would mention how Americans are saving less, and spending more. I have always been disgusted by especially those who use such a statistic without actually mentioning why this is also GREAT thing.
