Spending money with abandon might not be suitable for your wallet, but it makes the national economic data look good. Conversely, saving is prudent, but it can put a drag on GDP numbers in the short term.

It turns out Americans are saving more, which has some observers worried. The U.S. personal savings rate — which is a simple subtraction equation of income minus spending — was 8.1%, the St. Louis Federal Reserve reported. In 1996, the savings rate was 5.7%.