The emotions associated with savings are deeply ingrained in our psyche. Saving requires work beyond producing the daily bread. Hard work creates a sense of entitlement. Workers earn their Social Security payments. Savings are not a gift from anyone. Savers do not trust individuals with their hard-earned cash. Only God or good government can be trusted. Saving requires a deep faith that the excess will be preserved for future use. A safe community is necessary; without it, savings will be stolen. Saving tests our faith in the community.
Today we save as a community through government-guaranteed bank accounts, Social Security taxes, and other government taxes and programs. The current debate over Social Security and Medicare is part of our ritual and ceremony. A threat to savings is a threat to the whole community. The idea that Social Security should be “invested” in stocks challenges the sacred nature of savings.
Savings evoke deep emotions. Saving is about entitlement and faith, not fear and greed. Entitlement and faith are derived from generational experience, religion, and the meaning of life. Every community has had a Great Depression. Hard work does not always produce excess. When the well runs dry, the community ends. Communities such as the Inca and the Anasazi tribes worked hard, created vast roads and irrigation system, yet disappeared from the planet. Hard work does not guarantee anything. The Roaring 20s were full of frivolity, yet produced abundance; the 30s witnessed hard labor that did not overcome scarcity.
Good gods or good government are required to produce savings. The ancient tribes had rituals, harvest festivals, and the like to protect and celebrate their savings. Their feelings were primal and intense: gratitude for the bounty of nature but entitlement to share that bounty once harvested and stored. Every member of the tribe was involved. Today, feelings about savings are just as primal and intense, and involve every member of society. When savings systems collapse, no one is unaffected. In the 1930s, massive bank failures lead to deflation in some countries and hyperinflation in others. Incredibly strong feelings were unleashed. Desperation led to Nazism, wars, revolutions, and massive New Deals. When all savings disappear, gods are abandoned and governments overthrown. All forms of savings entail a sense of trust and entitlement. This is widely recognized. A dollar in savings must always be worth a dollar. Though savings instruments pay interest, the inflexible value of the principal is of primary importance. The main short-term savings instruments are passbook savings accounts, CDs, and money market funds. Long-term savings instruments include government notes and bonds. Many people also consider their primary residence as a savings instrument.
