The good news is that Americans have actually begun to save. After several years of a negative savings rate, within the last couple of months savings has jumped dramatically. The reason isn't so pleasant--people are scared to death of our current economic woes. But if we can keep it up even after the economy recovers, that would be a very good thing. I'm not holding my breath. People have gotten waaay to accustomed to living off thr swipe of a credit card.

The bad news is that the increased savings results from decreased spending which will drive our economy deeper into the doldrums and for a longer time. Our economic future definitely looks troubled.