Americans belatedly saving more and spending less on clarkhoward.com

Need some news of a silver lining in the recession? Americans have reversed a two-decade buying binge with borrowed money in response to the slowing economy.

Earlier this decade, the average American became a "negative net saver" for three consecutive years. That simply means they spent more money than they brought in. At the time, the money and credit were flowing freely.

But there's a cost in anxiety and a loss in personal freedom when you owe money. Simply put, it is financial enslavement.

Depending on which economist you believe, we're now saving anywhere from 5 cents on the dollar to 8 cents on the dollar.

Remember, spending less than you make is the only way to create financial security over the long haul. Forget about winning the lottery!

Now, the cynics say that most Americans will go back to being spending fools when the economy picks up again. What do you think? Be sure to vote in our poll!

Meanwhile, one of our previous polls about the United States Postal Service asked what frequency of mail delivery you'd like to see. The runaway winning choice was 5 days a week.

Of course, Congress is opposed to any change in the current 6 day/week delivery schedule. Yet the USPS is ailing financially and having trouble keeping to that schedule.

The USPS should be self-supporting, but it seems the only way to keep them afloat to deliver 6 days/week is with taxpayer money -- and Clark is totally opposed to that.

What others are saying

Start from the TOP
Here is another case of people that are at the top, with high saleries, raising prices 2 or 3 cents every year or two. Has the postmaster general, taken a pay cut to help the post office save money and have the perks he or she recieves been cut or reduced? A 5 day delivery schedule seems like a good idea. I'm sure the workers would like a 5 day work week. I would. It's amazing how another goverment run company can be loosing money but the people at the top don't see a reduced salery. Thanks.
By Domenic @ 05/19/09 10:55:41 AMreport abuse
Give them what they want
In January of this year the post office requested to go down to 5 days a week - for a huge savings - why not give them what they have asked for? Seems like they are trying to save the taxpayers some money.
By John C @ 04/24/09 09:08:40 AMreport abuse
To Me
Speaking of retarded logic, it's clear that the post office can't deliver that 2-3 day package for only $4.60 and cover its out-of-control expenses. What you get for the extra $8 bucks is a company that's turning a profit.
By Larry Finkel @ 04/23/09 09:50:06 PMreport abuse
To Matt
Again, blaming the post office for junk is retarded logic. They just deliver what they receive from companies. I dont get what all this anger toward the PO is for. If you want 2 day delivery, then just go to your mailbox twice a week and get your mail. But no, you go everyday to look in your box. You must love getting mail! How hard is it to take the piece of junk mail and throw it out? Consider that junk mail piece as subsidizing the cost of first class mail just like all advertising does in this world. Without it, that 44 cent stamp would be in the dollars, like it is in the rest of the world. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. By the way, alot of your online billpay bills get sent through the mail. Eliminate junk mail and your free online banking wont be so free anymore.
By Shawn @ 04/23/09 08:53:03 PMreport abuse
Junk Mail
Why does everyone seem to blame the post office for junk mail. They just deliver it, they dont produce it. Geez people. Kill the messenger why dont ya?

aleph...You have to tell the companies to stop creating junk mail for you. Even if you blow up your mailbox and stop all delivery, companies will still create a piece of mail for you, it just will never reach you. What a stupid proposition you made there.
By Shawn @ 04/23/09 08:45:33 PMreport abuse
usps
Over 90% of the mail I receive is junk mail. I'm tired of the USPS spamming my mailbox with pizza coupons, credit card apps, grocery ads, etc... I'd love to see the USPS cut back to 2 days a week and eliminate the the unsolicited garbage.
By matt @ 04/23/09 08:41:48 PMreport abuse
Post Office Delivery
I might consider paying the post office to NOT deliver my mail. I rarely get anything but wasted plant life...
By _aleph_ @ 04/23/09 04:48:14 PMreport abuse
Post Office
This is 2009, many people are now using the internet for more and more of their business and personal items - why do we keep the same schedule to deliver mail? I say drop it to 4 days a week to save everyone some money. But you would have to change the attitude of the postal workers and that would be hard. 6 day a week mail delivery should go away just like a daily paper will soon and the yellow pages
By ncsteve @ 04/23/09 01:16:00 PMreport abuse
Earn..Earn.. Earn!
Clark should advice making more than you spend rather than just saving more than you make. Build some drive and motivation to earn more, than just save save save and be a hermit. Take the show in a new direction!
By Sam @ 04/23/09 11:41:03 AMreport abuse
Post Office
JD Adams, the post office does alot of good for the people and businesses of this country. The post office can send a priority mail envelope for $4.60 in 2 or 3 days. Of course you can go use UPS and send that same thing for $13. So what costs an extra $8 more? Must be that fancy tracking everyone needs huh? Do you really need to know where that thing is every second of the day?? This isthe prices you will get if you "let others come in and make it work."

As for the current business model, Congress has always mandated that the PO break even. Any profit had to be reinvested. How can you save for a rainy day with that stipulation?? Also Congress also rquired the PO prefund a retirement account for the military and postal employees at $30 billion in the next 8 years. Why??? No one else in the world does this nonsense. That is $4 billion a year of postal revenue going to this prefunded account. If it wasnt for Congress and their bright ideas, the Post Office and its current business model would be doing just fine and could weather a loss in mail volume. Come on JD, Stop thinking you know everything and just be happy you are one of those fortunate peeps that seem to be well off.
By Me @ 04/22/09 08:34:07 PMreport abuse
We bail out GMC, but USPS, nah
This is the dumbest thing i have ever heard. This country makes a effort to give away converter boxes spending millions on it. Yet the USPS which Millions if not 10's of millions depned on everyday that can be kicked to the curb as not important. I love my HDTV, but this country is baliling out the wrong companies. USPS provides a real service i will use, i will never buy a GMC car. I love how congress can tell the USPS what it can and cannot do, but will not bail them out. Instead we give millions to fat cat CEO's. This bail out makes me Ill. Obama is just a sad joke. Let the failing automakers die, and don't blow billions on a dead horse, the USPS is vital and can be saved.
By Phil @ 04/22/09 07:45:34 PMreport abuse
A wake-up call for everyone...finally!
Everyone is waking up stone-cold sober, from two decades of a massive spending spree using other people's money, and I say it's high time it happened. YES, we have needed a correction in every sector of this economy for a very long time, and for those morons who strutted around with a huge expensive vehicle, a gigantic house and a wallet stuffed with maxed-out plastic, who are now whining like babies while being thrown out on their keisters, GOOD RIDDANCE! I've long-since shaken my head in disbelief over people who spent every waking minute trying to impress people they didn't know, and didn't even care about. I'm absolutely delighted at the cold slap in the face that these obnoxious, boisterous, self-absorbed people have finally earned, and I'd love to see everyone take a deep breath, make a plan to become and STAY debt-free, and follow through for a change.

As for USPS, they're top-heavy and inefficient. They should go out of business if they can't make money with their current business model. Let someone else come in and make it work for a change. USPS has been a joke for decades, but no one is laughing.
By JD Adams @ 04/22/09 06:47:30 PMreport abuse
who cares
they could go to 1 day a month for all I care, that is how often I check my junk mailbox, I mean mailbox. After a month its so packed full of junk mail I wonder how the mailman even gets it in there.

Its like checks, I write maybe 14 a year (rent plus 1 or 2 things where a seller demands a check) the rest I do online.

I would pay the junk mailman a few bucks a month for mail service if they kept the ads and offers out of my box.
By Mike @ 04/22/09 05:25:16 PMreport abuse
Cut to once a week.
Rarely do I care about anything in my mailbox, I would prefer once a week. That way I don't have to sort through my junk 6 times a week. I do all my finical and personal communication online.
By JD @ 04/22/09 05:05:10 PMreport abuse
USPS 5 days a week.
We do not need to cut mail service to 5 days a week we need to cut management. The USPS has one of the highest percentages of mgt. to employee ratios in business.
By Jeff Collard @ 04/22/09 03:17:08 PMreport abuse
saving money?
I doubt that the general public has suddenly turned from spendaholics to savers out of choice. Remember, these numbers are averages, nothing more or less and do not reflect anything but that.
The more likely explanation for a huge part of the saving increase is that those that were savers are saving more (the responsible ones) and the spenders are not saving anything, but only not being able to borrow any more since the houseing atm and credit card spigots have been essentially turned off for the spendaholics. And it is about time...some tough love.
By brian @ 04/22/09 02:24:17 PMreport abuse

Start from the TOP

Here is another case of people that are at the top, with high saleries, raising prices 2 or 3 cents every year or two. Has the postmaster general, taken a pay cut to help the post office save money and have the perks he or she recieves been cut or reduced? A 5 day delivery schedule seems like a good idea. I'm sure the workers would like a 5 day work week. I would. It's amazing how another goverment run company can be loosing money but the people at the top don't see a reduced salery. Thanks.

By Domenic @ 05/19/09 10:55:41 AMreport abuse

Give them what they want

In January of this year the post office requested to go down to 5 days a week - for a huge savings - why not give them what they have asked for? Seems like they are trying to save the taxpayers some money.

By John C @ 04/24/09 09:08:40 AMreport abuse

To Me

Speaking of retarded logic, it's clear that the post office can't deliver that 2-3 day package for only $4.60 and cover its out-of-control expenses. What you get for the extra $8 bucks is a company that's turning a profit.

By Larry Finkel @ 04/23/09 09:50:06 PMreport abuse

To Matt

Again, blaming the post office for junk is retarded logic. They just deliver what they receive from companies. I dont get what all this anger toward the PO is for. If you want 2 day delivery, then just go to your mailbox twice a week and get your mail. But no, you go everyday to look in your box. You must love getting mail! How hard is it to take the piece of junk mail and throw it out? Consider that junk mail piece as subsidizing the cost of first class mail just like all advertising does in this world. Without it, that 44 cent stamp would be in the dollars, like it is in the rest of the world. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. By the way, alot of your online billpay bills get sent through the mail. Eliminate junk mail and your free online banking wont be so free anymore.

By Shawn @ 04/23/09 08:53:03 PMreport abuse

Junk Mail

Why does everyone seem to blame the post office for junk mail. They just deliver it, they dont produce it. Geez people. Kill the messenger why dont ya?

aleph...You have to tell the companies to stop creating junk mail for you. Even if you blow up your mailbox and stop all delivery, companies will still create a piece of mail for you, it just will never reach you. What a stupid proposition you made there.

By Shawn @ 04/23/09 08:45:33 PMreport abuse

usps

Over 90% of the mail I receive is junk mail. I'm tired of the USPS spamming my mailbox with pizza coupons, credit card apps, grocery ads, etc... I'd love to see the USPS cut back to 2 days a week and eliminate the the unsolicited garbage.

By matt @ 04/23/09 08:41:48 PMreport abuse

Post Office Delivery

I might consider paying the post office to NOT deliver my mail. I rarely get anything but wasted plant life...

By _aleph_ @ 04/23/09 04:48:14 PMreport abuse

Post Office

This is 2009, many people are now using the internet for more and more of their business and personal items - why do we keep the same schedule to deliver mail? I say drop it to 4 days a week to save everyone some money. But you would have to change the attitude of the postal workers and that would be hard. 6 day a week mail delivery should go away just like a daily paper will soon and the yellow pages

By ncsteve @ 04/23/09 01:16:00 PMreport abuse

Earn..Earn.. Earn!

Clark should advice making more than you spend rather than just saving more than you make. Build some drive and motivation to earn more, than just save save save and be a hermit. Take the show in a new direction!

By Sam @ 04/23/09 11:41:03 AMreport abuse

JD Adams, the post office does alot of good for the people and businesses of this country. The post office can send a priority mail envelope for $4.60 in 2 or 3 days. Of course you can go use UPS and send that same thing for $13. So what costs an extra $8 more? Must be that fancy tracking everyone needs huh? Do you really need to know where that thing is every second of the day?? This isthe prices you will get if you "let others come in and make it work."

As for the current business model, Congress has always mandated that the PO break even. Any profit had to be reinvested. How can you save for a rainy day with that stipulation?? Also Congress also rquired the PO prefund a retirement account for the military and postal employees at $30 billion in the next 8 years. Why??? No one else in the world does this nonsense. That is $4 billion a year of postal revenue going to this prefunded account. If it wasnt for Congress and their bright ideas, the Post Office and its current business model would be doing just fine and could weather a loss in mail volume. Come on JD, Stop thinking you know everything and just be happy you are one of those fortunate peeps that seem to be well off.

By Me @ 04/22/09 08:34:07 PMreport abuse

We bail out GMC, but USPS, nah

This is the dumbest thing i have ever heard. This country makes a effort to give away converter boxes spending millions on it. Yet the USPS which Millions if not 10's of millions depned on everyday that can be kicked to the curb as not important. I love my HDTV, but this country is baliling out the wrong companies. USPS provides a real service i will use, i will never buy a GMC car. I love how congress can tell the USPS what it can and cannot do, but will not bail them out. Instead we give millions to fat cat CEO's. This bail out makes me Ill. Obama is just a sad joke. Let the failing automakers die, and don't blow billions on a dead horse, the USPS is vital and can be saved.

By Phil @ 04/22/09 07:45:34 PMreport abuse

A wake-up call for everyone...finally!

Everyone is waking up stone-cold sober, from two decades of a massive spending spree using other people's money, and I say it's high time it happened. YES, we have needed a correction in every sector of this economy for a very long time, and for those morons who strutted around with a huge expensive vehicle, a gigantic house and a wallet stuffed with maxed-out plastic, who are now whining like babies while being thrown out on their keisters, GOOD RIDDANCE! I've long-since shaken my head in disbelief over people who spent every waking minute trying to impress people they didn't know, and didn't even care about. I'm absolutely delighted at the cold slap in the face that these obnoxious, boisterous, self-absorbed people have finally earned, and I'd love to see everyone take a deep breath, make a plan to become and STAY debt-free, and follow through for a change.

As for USPS, they're top-heavy and inefficient. They should go out of business if they can't make money with their current business model. Let someone else come in and make it work for a change. USPS has been a joke for decades, but no one is laughing.

By JD Adams @ 04/22/09 06:47:30 PMreport abuse

who cares

they could go to 1 day a month for all I care, that is how often I check my junk mailbox, I mean mailbox. After a month its so packed full of junk mail I wonder how the mailman even gets it in there.

Its like checks, I write maybe 14 a year (rent plus 1 or 2 things where a seller demands a check) the rest I do online.

I would pay the junk mailman a few bucks a month for mail service if they kept the ads and offers out of my box.

By Mike @ 04/22/09 05:25:16 PMreport abuse

Cut to once a week.

Rarely do I care about anything in my mailbox, I would prefer once a week. That way I don't have to sort through my junk 6 times a week. I do all my finical and personal communication online.

By JD @ 04/22/09 05:05:10 PMreport abuse

USPS 5 days a week.

We do not need to cut mail service to 5 days a week we need to cut management. The USPS has one of the highest percentages of mgt. to employee ratios in business.

By Jeff Collard @ 04/22/09 03:17:08 PMreport abuse

saving money?

I doubt that the general public has suddenly turned from spendaholics to savers out of choice. Remember, these numbers are averages, nothing more or less and do not reflect anything but that.
The more likely explanation for a huge part of the saving increase is that those that were savers are saving more (the responsible ones) and the spenders are not saving anything, but only not being able to borrow any more since the houseing atm and credit card spigots have been essentially turned off for the spendaholics. And it is about time...some tough love.

By brian @ 04/22/09 02:24:17 PMreport abuse

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Apr 22, 2009 -- Americans belatedly saving more and spending less

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