Good News: Consumers Saving Not Spending

The Wall Street Journal apparently concurs with our skepticism about the theory that the lower oil price will result in increased consumer spending.

Americans are taking the money they are saving at the gas pump and socking it away, a sign of consumers’ persistent caution even when presented with an unexpected windfall.

How do they know this? The source is valid: credit and debit card companies.

This newfound commitment to frugality was illustrated this past week when the nation’s biggest payment-card companies said they aren’t seeing evidence consumers are putting their gasoline savings toward discretionary items like travel, home renovations and electronics.

These folks sort through mounds of data with sophisticated programs and their analysis is most likely accurate. But rather than fret over a lost opportunity for economic revival, how about we simply celebrate the fact that people aren't spending like drunken sailors, and perhaps are even whittling down the overhang of debt that casts a dark shadow on so many American families.

That more Americans are saving their bounty at the pump comes as a surprise, because the personal savings rate, after rising during and after the recession, has declined steadily over the past two years.

It's good news, not bad, not troublesome, not problematic, that Americans aren't spending as before, even better that they may be paying down debt and even (Can you believe it?) saving. While we're nowhere near reasonable levels of debt, sane spending habits, nor even an ethically-based rejection of self-indulgent lifestyles, we might be able to eke out one quick "Huzzah!" that a step in the right direction may have been taken.