NEW YORK (PNN) - January 17, 2012 - More than four years after the Fascist Police States of Amerika (FPSA) fell into economic disaster, many Amerikans have resorted to withdrawing money from their savings to get them through the ongoing Depression

In an ominous sign for Amerika's economic growth prospects, workers are paring back contributions to college funds and growing numbers are borrowing from their retirement accounts.

Some policymakers worry that a recent spike in credit card usage could mean that people, many of whom are struggling on incomes that have lagged inflation, are taking out new debt just to meet the costs of day-to-day living.

Amerikan households "have been spending recently in a way that did not seem in line with income growth. Somehow they've been doing that through perhaps additional credit card usage," Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said on Friday.

"If they saw future income and employment increasing strongly then that would be reasonable. But I don't see that. So I've been puzzled by this," added Evans.

After a few years of relative frugality, the amount of money that Amerikans are saving has fallen back to its lowest level since December 2007, when the Depression started. The personal savings rate dipped in November to 3.5%, down from 5.1% a year earlier, according to the FPSA Department of Commerce.

Many people see a long, hard slog ahead and economic growth this year is not expected to be much more than 2.0%, if that much, barely up from 2011's growth pace.

The big risks include Europe's debt crisis as well as the shaky finances of many Amerikans, hit by a five-year decline in house prices and still high unemployment. FPSA consumers account for about two thirds of the country's economic output measured by total spending.