Not So Negative Savings

Instead, he finds that people are putting the bulk of their savings into tax-deferred vehicles like 401(K) plans or into real estate.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute estimates that $12 trillion in retirement accounts have been excluded from the savings rate.

"We see savings as quite robust because we look at savings flow," says Schnapp. "When you look at the amount of money flowing into bonds, mutual funds, money market accounts and stocks, it looks like growth has been very healthy."

If growth is rapidly accelerating but is being obscured by government data, then it's time to start worrying about the 1970s, not the 1930s.

Unchecked growth could mean inflation and the eventual devaluation of the dollar; and if the real purchasing power of Americans is eroded, the size of their savings accounts will be a moot point.