During the same period, the country went from a positive savings rate to a negative savings rate.
Now that the housing market bubble is deflating, Americans are left with mortgage payments they can't afford, no equity in their homes to stay afloat, and no savings to make ends meet.
Finally, companies and institutional investors around the globe are holding record amounts of cash - an indication that they are growing more pessimistic over the outlook for future economic and profits growth.
Cash holdings have been rising steadily since 1999, first breaking the $1,000bn mark in 2004 and they have remained unusually high since then.
Institutional investors are also holding on to more cash, according to recent surveys.
Last week Merrill Lynch said that a net 33 percent of asset allocators were overweight in cash - an all-time high. "You have to go back to the Iraq invasion of March 2003 to see levels of risk appetite this low," said David Bowers, an independent consultant to Merrill Lynch.
If you add this to the fact that we have had inverted yield curves on the treasuries, my conclusion is that the country is heading for a Bear Market. Goldilocks has left the building.
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