in desperate need of cash , this economic rule may not fully hold . More important , individuals need savings to be prepared for unanticipated expenses and income losses , especially now . The reality is that there is no bailout coming to you . And those getting the bailout might not be willing to lend to you , anyway . So now is the time to save . The money you save is your own personal safety net , what you tap when you have an unanticipated expense like a car repair or when you 're between jobs , as many Americans find themselves nowadays . The past decade has seen Americans saving at historically low levels ; we 've substituted plastic for the piggy bank . But the days of cheap and easy access to credit have come and gone . We all need to save not because we want to but because we have to . For decades , our country 's economy has flourished , but it relied too heavily on debt-driven consumer spending to power its growth . Excessive household debt , coupled with stagnating incomes and little to no personal savings , now places
Editor 's note : Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini is a senior policy analyst in the Asset Building Program at the New America Foundation , a Washington-based think tank that seeks innovative solutions across the political spectrum . Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini says Americans have no choice but to increase the amount they save . WASHINGTON -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- As the economy slows , millions of Americans will cut their budgets to stay afloat . This generates conflicting impulses : If I skip that morning coffee and granola , will my thriftiness put my local coffee shop out of business ? Will that force America 's granola farmers to lay off workers ? What 's a budget-conscious , patriotic and hungry girl to do ? Not to worry , saving a few dollars now will not prolong the recession . And , more important , spending all your discretionary income will not end the recession . It 's true that John Maynard Keynes ' `` Paradox of Thrift '' suggests that , even while saving is beneficial to an individual , too much aggregate savings could deepen an ordinary recession . But in these extraordinary times , where banks and not just businesses are