Clark has whined for years about how much we as a country have refused to save. In recent years, in fact, we had even ventured into the land of negative net savings rates for the first time ever -- even counting the Great Depression years!

But now we're in a process of "de-leveraging" and some people are beginning to save again. The chief economist for Moody's Economy.com now predicts the saving rate will be at 3 percent in a year and 8 percent after 2010.

A USA TODAY/Gallup poll finds that younger people are saving much better than those over age 50. According to the survey, 44% of those in the 18-29 age range are increasing their savings, while 40% of those in the 30-49 range are doing the same.

Could we be witnessing the end of the "when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping" mentality of the '90s?

In recent years, we as Americans were proud to have more stuff than anybody else in the world. Even the penny-pincher himself has a confession to make in this regard.

Clark has lost around 25 pounds over the last 8 months and finally decided to donate his old slacks to charity. He had 12 pairs of identical khakis -- and 2 had never been worn and still had the tags on them.

No doubt he saw them on sale and just couldn't resist a bargain. Clark is ashamed to admit it, but it's true. We as Americans need to rethink how we spend and consider our needs versus our wants.