BEIJING - A strange view has emerged recently from some US government and economic circles, which says high savings in emerging markets such as China and oil exporting countries sowed the seeds of a global credit bubble, whose bursting led to the current global financial crisis.

The statement is both irresponsible and untenable.

The advocates of this view claim that different countries have different saving and investment tendencies, resulting in imbalances in the world economy.

They also say the emerging markets have exerted downward pressure on investment yields in recent years at a time of low inflation and booming trade and capital flows, driving investors in developed economies to turn to riskier investments.

First, the statement has an apparent logical shortcoming. High savings in emerging markets do not mean consumers and investors in developed economies can borrow money from them without misgivings.

More importantly, the high savings rate in emerging markets is not a reason for developed countries to loosen financial regulation and look on arms folded as financial institutions develop new derivatives and let financial bubbles balloon.

For the Chinese, the habit of saving originates from their long-time culture and tradition and the habit is also seen as part of their cherished virtues of diligence and thrift.

Furthermore, previous outbreaks of world and regional financial crises have proven that Chinese savings have no causal relationship with the crisis.

The reasons for the current financial crisis lie in excessive consumption, high indebtedness, improper macroeconomic policies and lack of financial regulation, analysts say.

The United States should have recognized that borrowing from abroad for consumption and deficit spending at home was not a formula for economic success, the New York Times cited economists as saying.

Although the problem is widely recognized, Americans are likely to become more addicted than ever to borrowing foreign money to finance record government spending to revive the broken economy, they warned.

Some experts have also referred to the lack of ethics in the financial system as they tried to find out the causes for the crisis.

"We don't just need a financial bailout; we need an ethical bailout," wrote columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman in the New York Times.

"We need to re-establish the core balance between our markets, ethics and regulations. I don't want to kill the animal spirits that necessarily drive capitalism -- but I don't want to be eaten by them either," he said.

In a word, politicians and economists in the United States should stop trying to find reasons for the crisis outside US borders. Some analysts say that the comment about high savings triggering the financial crisis is just an excuse for all the real reasons for the problem.