Safety-nets have similarly rendered saving for a rainy day less urgent.

FORBES: Congress's Policies Steal Our Freedoms While Rewarding Irresponsibility

Maybe it's just because it is all so new, but the idea of using, say, reverse osmosis filters to remove water molecules and artificially concentrate wine from a rainy vintage makes wine production sound less like agriculture and more like the Rise of the Machines.

FORBES: Faking It

"To the extent that consumers end up either using the majority of (the refund) to pay down debt or simply to save for a rainy day, obviously the economic impact is going to be a lot less, " said Michael Gregory of Lehman Brothers.

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They are less likely to own stocks and shares than Americans, even though some are assiduous savers against a rainy day (three-quarters of all French household financial assets are free from capital risk).

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne