Bernard Godement (who is much too kind) notes (in his comment on this post below) that Alex Taborrok and I spend a lot of time focusing on personal saving in our current Econoblog feature. Are we missing something, he wonders, by not looking at private saving, which includes saving by businesses as well as households.
It's a good question. Here's an answer in a picture.
Does the personal income trend give a false impression of private saving? If you are asking questions about the general trend of the past two decades, the answer is no. But if you are wringing your hands about the past three years in particular, then answer seems to be yes.
Of course, the issue with national saving (including the government component) remains, and the usual caveats about the NIPA measure of saving apply.