Why isn't Washington aiding savers?

updated 4:34 p.m. ET Aug. 18, 2008

WASHINGTON - Two giant mortgage companies get into hot water over risky investments. The government steps in to throw them a lifeline should they need it.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans buy homes more expensive than they can afford. Congress approves a rescue package.

Troubles erupt at a Wall Street investment firm that made bad bets on mortgage investments. The Federal Reserve steps in and provides financial backing for the company's takeover.

Meanwhile, tens of millions of people pay their mortgages on time, don't max out their credit cards and put money into retirement funds. They may even save a little extra on the side.

In return, they get rates on their savings that don't even keep up with inflation. They also are witnessing the horror of their nest eggs shrinking as the value of their homes plummets and the stock market tumbles.

Washington policymakers seem more focused on rescuing those who behave badly by putting at risk taxpayers who've played by the rules and shunned the get-rich-quick schemes of Wall Street croupiers.

If the government can toss a lifeline to troubled mortgage underwriters Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they why won't they do something for Americans who save their money?

Why aren't the nation's savers storming the Federal Reserve or the Treasury Department or the halls of Congress demanding that something be done for them?

"Perhaps there is a mentality that you can't beat city hall," ponders financial adviser and author Ric Edelman.

Or, maybe it's just that the mentality of people who are savers also helps make them flexible enough to roll with the punches.

"I'm not a crybaby about what goes on in the world," says Cathy Tozzi, 70, a retired school finance director.

The elderly — who are no longer working and are living off their income from savings and other investments — are getting walloped by the current economic hard times.

"People like my mom. You expect them to be upset. People who are doing a lot of saving now versus people who are done saving are two very different groups," said John Huizinga, professor of economics at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

Tozzi, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. has cut back. "I shop at the 99 cent stores. There are ways of saving money." Even so, she worries about inflation "eating into my savings."

People who grew up during the hardships of the Great Depression are from a generation that was more frugal and knew how to save. To them, debt was a dirty word.

"They grew up with the mentality that you make the best of what is handed to you. They don't worry they won't make it to Rome or Paris this year. They will settle for a car trip," says Alan Hilfer, director psychology at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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