This article highlights something intersting. There used to be a time when savings were encouraged and living within your means was the norm. Not so today. I understand the economic theory underlining why they would say this, but it still doesn't make sense. Watch out frugal savers, the world's economists are coming for you.


Quote:

A growing number of economists now say that must change to ensure the euro's survival. If Greece must slash spending and put its books in order to restore faith in the euro, then Germans must also begin to consume more of what Germany and its neighbors manufacture.

The economic imbalances in Europe underscore a broader global problem, the solving of which President PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER. and others have called key to laying a path to sustained growth in the wake of the financial crisis. They argue that nations like Germany, China and Japan must do more to open the wallets of their consumers, who have some of the highest savings rates in the world, just as nations like United States, Britain and Greece must begin to export more while weaning themselves off the kind of credit-fueled spending sprees that have generated the economic bubbles of recent years.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/27/AR2010022701421.html