A month it was the US which saw [4]its savings rate plummet to the lowest since the start of the Second Great Depression...
[5]
And now it is the Euro Area's turn to see its savings crumble to 12.2% in Q4 2012, from 12.8% previously, the lowest in, well, ever, since the adoption of the Euro:
[6]
Why? Gross disposable income just imploded, dropping at the lowest "growth" rate ever. Notably, wages were a far bigger detractor to income than taxes.
[7]
And the same on a per capita basis. Bloodbath:
[8]
We know: austerity's fault (just ignore absolutely everything else that is broken in Europe). See how easy that was?
Source: Eurostat [9] [9]