He pointed to how the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990’s caused the region’s voracious investment demand to collapse, while simultaneously inducing Asian governments to stockpile liquid assets as a hedge against another crisis. Bernanke also pointed to increased retirement saving by aging populations in Germany and Japan, as well as to saving by oil-exporting countries, with their rapidly growing populations and concerns about oil revenues in the long term.
伯南克的原始讲话强调了几个因素——一些因素降低了全球储蓄需求，另一些因素增加了供给。无论如何，利率必须降低，以使世界债券市场出清。他指出，20世纪90年代末的亚洲金融危机导致了该地区巨大的投资需求崩溃，同时导致亚洲各国纷纷囤积流动性资产作为下一场危机的对冲手段。伯南克还提到了德国和日本老龄人口退休储蓄的增加，以及人口快速增长、担心长期石油收入的石油出口国的储蓄。