Between the end of 2007 and mid-2009, aggregate U.S. real consumption spending declined by about $175 billion. Over the 18-month period, this amounted to a decrease in inflation-adjusted consumption expenditures of nearly 2 percent.

Discuss how changes in household disposable income, housing and stock wealth, and debt-generated movements along and shifts in the U.S. saving function. Explain these effects, assuming other things were equal.