Richard Barrington

Since debt and savings are opposites, you wouldn't expect them to move in the same direction at the same time. However, recent statistics indicate that as America's debt has shrunk, so too have America's savings rates.

The torrential pace of bank failures in 2009 and 2010 has eased, but in the first three quarters of 2011 the downpour has still been enough to give the banking system a pretty good soaking.