Personal Savings: Japan versus the US

Christian Party

Personal Savings & Incomes

U.S. vs. Japan

History is Made: US Personal Savings rate goes negative for the first times since the Great Depression, down from 26% in 1944, at that same time that bankruptcies reach a record level.

Even with a net worth per household of a NEGATIVE $77,000 in the US, half a trillion dollars is taken from men taxpayers who earn it and handed over to single-mother households who spend it.

Japan's personal savings record:

Asia Week's Bottom Line: Japan saves 34% of GDP versus only 15% in the US.

Nomura Research: Japanese households saved an average of 23.9% of their incomes between 1980 and 1994.

Princeton Economic Institute: Japan's PSAs (Postal Savings Accounts) contained $10 trillion in 1996.

Fortune Magazine: Japan had $13 trillion in postal savings accounts in 1997.

International Monetary Fund: Japan's 1992 savings were 34% of GDP compared to only 11% in the US.

OECD: Japan's gross private savings rate is 28% of GDP.

The Japanese government web site reports:

	The average Japanese family saved another $14,383.20 in the year 2000, adding another 64.5 trillion yen, or $587 billion to their savings.
	The official Japanese worker's average monthly income of $9,819 in December 2000 was $5,037 higher than his average monthly living expenditure.
	Average net worth per household in Japan in 1994 was $488,636 (compared to a NEGATIVE $77,000 in the US).

Possibly excluded from government estimates are Japan's personal savings in semi-private Postal Savings Accounts (PSAs).

Deposits in postal savings accounts now exceed $25 Trillion.

Of the world's top 52 commercial banks, 17 are Japanese with assets of $5.6 trillion

US mainstream media reports that Japanese economy is "on the verge of collapse" are wrong: such misrepresentation of the US economic disaster is irresponsible!

Compare the above to the official Japanese government figures.

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If you would like to provide comments on the other ways to project the value of the yen, please click here.

551,200 yen = Income

86,400 yen = Taxes

335,000 yen = Living expenses

129,800 yen = Savings = "Surplus" plus "Net savings and Insurance" = 23.5% of income

With average propensity to consume being 72.1% in 2001, personal savings would have been 27.9% of disposable income and 23.5% of total income, which would have been $1,081 per household at 120 yen to the dollar and $1,621 at 80 yen to the dollar. With 46 million workers' households, this would have been 46 million x monthly income x 12 months = $580 billion to $895 billion per year in personal savings. The true damages to the average Japanese household due to the "Asian economic crisis" thus was a 2.1% decrease in personal savings that year.

Over a period of 42 years, from 1960 to 2002, however, the monetary base of Japan's central bank increased to $71.5 trillion dollars, making this savings figure appear to be artifically low. If this had been Japan's average savings rate over that time, total personal savings would have been less than $14 trillion. But Japan saved 4.7 trillion yen in 1960 which was worth only $11.8 billion at 400 to the dollar, and at 80 yen to the dollar, it was worth $58.5 billion. At that rate, Japan's cumulative savings between 1960 and 2002 should have been 3,420 trillion yen ($28.5 trillion at 120 yen to the dollar and $42.7 trillion at 80 yen to the dollar and).

Doom and gloom stories which have been in the American "mainstream media" in the last 42 years are inconsistent with these savings figures as well as the increase in Japan's GDP increase during that time (which was 17 fold in gold, 38 fold in yen, 124 fold in dollars). Some sources, like Asia Week, report that Japan's actual savings rate is 33% of GDP, not the 24% reported by the Japanese government web site. Using only 30% as their savings rate, in only the last 42 years, Japan MUST have saved the equivalent of $28.5 trillion at 120 yen to the dollar and $42.7 trillion at 80 yen to the dollar.

We need an "Asian Economic Crisis" like the one Japan had.

Japan's Cumulative GDP & Savings by Year	Yen per dollar	GDP, Trillions of Yen	GDP Billions of Dollars	GDP billion ounces of gold	Annual % change in GDP in yen	Annual % change in GDP in dollars	Annual % change in GDP in gold	Dollars per ounce of gold	Yen per ounce of gold	Annual Savings Trillions of Yen	Annual Savings Trillions of Dollars
1960	400	15.5	39	1.1				37	14,600	5	0.013
1961	366	18.5	51	1.4	19.40%	30.20%	34.00%	36	12,993	6	0.016
1962	380	21.5	57	1.6	16.20%	12.10%	12.70%	35	13,433	6	0.016
1963	350	24.5	70	2	14.00%	23.70%	24.40%	35	12,338	7	0.020
1964	350	30	86	2.4	22.40%	22.40%	21.60%	35	12,373	9	0.026
1965	355	36	101	2.9	20.00%	18.30%	18.20%	36	12,603	11	0.031
1966	360	42	117	3.3	16.70%	15.10%	15.40%	35	12,744	13	0.036
1967	355	50	141	4	19.00%	20.70%	20.30%	36	12,603	15	0.042
1968	365	59	162	3.7	18.00%	14.80%	-6.30%	44	15,878	18	0.049
1969	339	65	192	4.7	10.20%	18.60%	25.80%	41	13,899	20	0.059
1970	329	70.9	216	5.5	9.10%	12.40%	18.40%	39	12,798	21	0.064
1971	320.1	86	269	6	21.30%	24.70%	8.70%	45	14,275	26	0.081
1972	301.2	101	335	5.3	17.40%	24.80%	-12.80%	64	19,231	30	0.100
1973	280.2	116	414	3.9	14.90%	23.50%	-25.90%	106	29,834	35	0.125
1974	300.4	131	436	2.4	12.90%	5.30%	-39.10%	184	55,206	39	0.130
1975	305.7	148.3	485	3.5	13.20%	11.30%	46.80%	139	42,577	44	0.144
1976	294.7	164.6	559	4.2	11.00%	15.10%	20.10%	134	39,422	49	0.166
1977	241	182	755	4.7	10.60%	35.20%	12.20%	161	38,828	55	0.228
1978	196	199	1,016	4.9	9.30%	34.50%	4.10%	208	40,779	60	0.306
1979	240.4	214	890	1.9	7.50%	-12.30%	-60.20%	459	110,330	64	0.266
1980	209.5	240.2	1,147	1.9	12.20%	28.80%	-0.50%	595	124,626	72	0.344
1981	219	257.4	1,176	2.9	7.20%	2.50%	52.30%	400	87,580	77	0.352
1982	241.9	269.6	1,114	2.5	4.70%	-5.20%	-15.30%	447	108,147	81	0.335
1983	234.5	280.3	1,196	3.2	4.00%	7.30%	26.50%	380	89,095	84	0.358
1984	248	298	1,202	3.9	6.30%	0.50%	23.50%	309	76,620	89	0.359
1985	202.8	320	1,578	4.8	7.40%	31.30%	24.20%	327	66,312	96	0.473
1986	162.1	330	2,036	5.2	3.10%	29.00%	7.90%	391	63,345	99	0.611
1987	128.2	343.2	2,676	5.5	4.00%	31.40%	5.60%	487	62,389	103	0.803
1988	123.6	417.3	3,376	8.2	21.60%	26.10%	49.60%	410	50,699	125	1.011
1989	143.7	414.6	2,886	7.2	-0.60%	-14.50%	-12.50%	401	57,620	124	0.863
1990	133.9	430	3,212	8.3	3.70%	11.30%	15.60%	386	51,708	129	0.963
1991	128	440.8	3,442	9.8	2.50%	7.20%	17.20%	353	45,217	132	1.031
1992	124	451.8	3,642	10.9	2.50%	5.80%	12.20%	333	41,305	136	1.097
1993	109.9	463.1	4,213	10.8	2.50%	15.70%	-1.70%	392	43,057	139	1.265
1994	100.2	474.6	4,738	12.4	2.50%	12.50%	15.00%	383	38,394	142	1.417
1995	101.9	483.2	4,744	12.3	1.80%	0.10%	-0.80%	387	39,416	145	1.423
1996	114	500.3	4,389	11.9	3.50%	-7.50%	-2.90%	369	42,059	150	1.316
1997	129.7	509.6	3,928	12.3	1.90%	-10.50%	3.20%	320	41,514	153	1.180
1998	117.1	498.5	4,258	14.4	-2.20%	8.40%	17.20%	296	34,653	150	1.281
1999	102.6	495	4,826	16.1	-0.70%	13.30%	11.80%	300	30,774	149	1.452
2000	112.2	532.8	4,749	17.6	7.60%	-1.60%	9.30%	270	30,297	160	1.426
2001	121.5	581.7	4,823	18.4	9.20%	0.80%	4.70%	260	31,590	175	1.440
2002	122.5	592.8	4,839	18.8	1.90%	1.10%	1.90%	261	31,591	178	1.453
2003	110	622.44	5,659	19.74	5.00%			387	42,570	187	1.698
Cumulative		12,022	86,240	308	4	5	4	244	42,439	3,608	25.869
Ratio 2002:1960	0.31	38	125	18				7.2	2.2	38

In spite of all the rhetoric about the "Asian Economic Crisis", we predict that Japan's GDP for 2003 will eventually be quietly announced at 622 trillion yen, or $5.7 trillion dollars, a GDP per capita of $44,524.

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Modified Tuesday, August 26, 2008