Comments on: Don’t Dismiss Our Dismal Savings Rate* http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/ Bob McTeer's Blog Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:07:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Paul Kasriel http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-2035 Paul Kasriel Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:25:19 +0000 http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-2035 Bob, I hope all is forgiven. I tried to congratulate you for talking economic sense in your WSJ op-ed piece on saving but did not know how to contact you until finding your blog today. Keep up the good work. If Ron Paul wins the White House, any chance you will become his Treasury Secretary? Best Regards, Paul Kasriel P.S. I never could figure out you and Rosenblum could coexist. Bob,

I hope all is forgiven. I tried to congratulate you for talking economic sense in your WSJ op-ed piece on saving but did not know how to contact you until finding your blog today. Keep up the good work. If Ron Paul wins the White House, any chance you will become his Treasury Secretary?

Best Regards,
Paul Kasriel

P.S. I never could figure out you and Rosenblum could coexist.

]]> By: Will http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-577 Will Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:21:25 +0000 http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-577 Great article Bob! I read and re-read your article yesterday and then talked about it for a long time with colleagues. It might have even resulted in reduced output because it was such a distraction! An interesting follow-up article might be on the affects of people borrowing against their over-valued homes. They didn't exactly cash out (because you have to live somewhere) but they extracted a lot of cash from their houses. So the question is: because these people monetized their asset and extracted cash, does that represent "real" wealth creation? I think not because it was borrowed money... Great article Bob! I read and re-read your article yesterday and then talked about it for a long time with colleagues. It might have even resulted in reduced output because it was such a distraction!

An interesting follow-up article might be on the affects of people borrowing against their over-valued homes. They didn’t exactly cash out (because you have to live somewhere) but they extracted a lot of cash from their houses. So the question is: because these people monetized their asset and extracted cash, does that represent “real” wealth creation? I think not because it was borrowed money…

]]> By: Steve Roach http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-576 Steve Roach Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:35:56 +0000 http://www.bob-mcteer-blog.com/dont-dismiss-our-dismal-savings-rate/#comment-576 Amen Bob! About time someone else took a shot at the conventional wisdom that always "disses" the income-based saving rate. It is a real and very legitimate depiction of the mismatch between trends in spending and largely labor-driven income generation. As you note, its downtrend over the past decade does importantly reflect the substitiution of asset-based saving for income-based saving. On that score, I would not be quite so compliemetary toward Mr. Greenspan -- the cheerleader of America's asset-driven spending binge. Other than that, hard to argue with this clear message from the truth squad! Amen Bob! About time someone else took a shot at the conventional wisdom that always “disses” the income-based saving rate. It is a real and very legitimate depiction of the mismatch between trends in spending and largely labor-driven income generation. As you note, its downtrend over the past decade does importantly reflect the substitiution of asset-based saving for income-based saving. On that score, I would not be quite so compliemetary toward Mr. Greenspan — the cheerleader of America’s asset-driven spending binge. Other than that, hard to argue with this clear message from the truth squad!

]]>