$700 Billion for Wall Street, $700 Billion for Main Street?

 In an E-mail, liberal economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research notes that if Americans push their savings rate from the current 1.3 percent to the post-WWII average of 8 percent, it would imply a fall in annual consumption spending of roughly $700 billion.

It just so happens that makes for a nice compromise number for a possible 2009 stimulus package from the Obamacrats. (I have bean hearing numbers from $500 billion to $1 trillion.)  Of course, Americans won't feel as impelled to save if we get a nice rebound in net worth from a new bull market in stocks, but that might not happen if we get higher investment taxes and the elimination of tax breaks for retirement plans. Hmmmm ....

Reader Comments Read all comments (2)

Add Your Thoughts

Comment Name State Select One AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY International Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Incorrect please try again

Enter the words above: Enter the numbers you hear:

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.