In 2006, the national personal savings rate calculated by the U.S. Department of Commerce was around negative 1%. It was the second straight year that the measure indicated Americans are spending all of their after-tax dollars and then some. In 2005, the savings rate was negative 0.4%.

While negative rates of saving are not sustainable in the long-term, they do not signal financial stress for U.S. households. Nor are they an early warning of "hard landing" of the U.S. economy.