After the subprime crisis erupted, mortgage and consumer debt was paid down by households either with their savings or by default. The fall in US total debt, and the narrowing of the financing gap between total debt and domestic funds, led to a significant improvement in the US current-account deficit in 2008-2009, disproving US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s claim that the deficit was caused by a global “saving glut.”
在次贷危机爆发之后，美国家庭只能用储蓄来支付抵押贷款和消费者债务，或者被迫放弃偿还。美国总债务的下降，以及总债务和国内资金之间财政缺口的缩窄，都使得美国经常账户赤字状况在2008-2009财年大大改善，也证明美联储主席伯南克宣称该赤字是由全球“储蓄偏好”所引发的观点是错误的。事实上尽管美元在避险需求下升值，美国经常账户状况却得到了巩固。