Obama's new witholding rate

[disneysteve]

I think the (silent) majority would be people who are mostly responsible, and do not simply spend because there is money to spend.

most people still only spend what they need to, and save the remainder

most people do know what they can and can't afford

Sadly, I must disagree with you. Study after study and loads of stats speak against this - the anemic national savings rate, the very low average 401k balance (regardless of age), the high average credit card rate, the tremendous popularity of leasing cars, etc. We live in a society where many people feel that if they can afford the monthly payment, that means they can afford the purchase. For example, I know plenty of people who can't tell you how much they paid for their car. All they can tell you is what their montly payment is.

Unfortunately, we here at Saving Advice represent the minority of Americans IMO.

[wnlbutterfly]

I think the way everyone is feeling right now and the overall pinch the economy is in, that most people still do not feel they can go out and spend, that they do need to be paying on debt and being a little more careful with their spending. I don't think this is going to have an impact at all.

99% of those that I did taxes for couldn't even tell you how much that lump sum stimulus check was for they got last year. Some where even like "what check?". People that their gross income is around $16k a year.

Time will tell.