Two more charts I found:
International savings rates from 1990-2005.
And the American savings rate from 1961 to 2001, comparing savings rate against a "household wealth to disposable income" ratio.
The former is mostly just kinda an interesting comparison. The latter is alarming. Even if you look only at the savings rate, it was NEVER below 6% until about 1995. Since then, it's never gone back up.
So actually, BA, the question should be "Why has it gone down so much?" Here's
one article that tries to explain that question. My best attempt at short, simple summaries of some possibilities are as follows:
*** 1) The "wealth effect". The increased value of assets stimulates consumption.
*** 2) People are confident that income will continue to rise, decreasing the need for savings (because you'll be getting more money next year).
*** 3) Increased access to credit has decreased the need for liquidity. *NOTE:
"While this could be a significant contributing factor, the evidence put forward does not indicate that this is the principal factor propelling the consumption boom"