Indeed, notwithstanding an unprecedented post-crisis tripling of Fed assets to roughly $3 trillion – probably on their way to $4 trillion over the next year – US consumers have pulled back as never before. In the 19 quarters since the start of 2008, annualized growth of inflation-adjusted consumer spending has averaged just 0.7% – almost three percentage points below the 3.6% trend increases recorded in the 11 years ending in 2006.
确实，尽管前所未有的危机后美联储资产大概翻了三倍到3万亿美元——并可能在未来一年内达到4万亿美元，美国的消费还是前所未有的回落了。自2008年初以来的19个季度中，计入通胀因素后消费支出的年化增长率平均仅为0.7%——几乎比截至2006年的前11年每年3.6%的增长趋势低了3个百分点。