This is a natural response to lower income growth and is being reinforced by easier monetary policy, which has reduced the return on safe financial assets. That said, the fact that many households already carry a considerable debt burden means that the extent to which they will be prepared to reduce saving to fund consumption may be less than it once was.
More on this in a moment. •  As part of the same adjustment, government saving is increasing more slowly (more accurately, government dis-saving is lessening more slowly) than otherwise. This is more or less automatic to the extent that lower commodity prices directly reduce state and federal government revenues.