Skeptonomist,
Credit card peaked at around 10 percent of disposable income in the late 90s http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/default.htm. It was stable or falling as the saving rate fell to zero in the last decade. I don't think there was a single year where the rise in credit card debt was even 1 percentage point of disposable income. In other words, you can't explain much of the change in saving rates with credit card debt, it just isn't large enough.
As far as the wealth effect in the post-war years, housing wealth was actually depressed in 1960s so it is not surprising that we didn't see a big consumption boom kicked off by the relatively short-lived stock boom of the late 60s. Also, savings did rise in the 70s, when the market tumbled, and then began to fall in the late 80s when the market started to exceed historic PE ratios. There are other factors, but the basic numbers fit the wealth effect story quite well. - Dean
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