Bill would help schools, nonprofits teach financial literacy
OPS_admin | Mar 16, 2009 | Comments 0
Bill would help schools, nonprofits teach financial literacy
The numbers are startling. More than half of high school seniors have debit cards and nearly one-third have credit cards.
One-third of college students have four credits cards apiece when they graduate, and more than half of graduates have piled up $5,000 each in high-interest debt. The number of 18- to 24-year-olds who have declared bankruptcy has increased 96 percent in 10 years.
Surveys show that many of these young people also are financially illiterate: They don’t understand such things as interest, minimum payments, credit reports, identity theft or that they may be paying off their school loans for years.
The problem isn’t just with the young, however. One in five Americans thinks that the most practical way to become rich is to win the lottery.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., remembers that her kids started receiving credit card applications when they were 16. She said that she repeatedly heard from people, young and old, who wished they knew more about financial matters.
Murray will introduce legislation this week that would authorize $1.2 billion in grants over five years to promote financial-literacy education beginning in grade school and stretching into adulthood.
“It’s a perfect time to be doing this,” Murray said.
Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, agrees.
via Ledger-Enquirer.com | 03/15/2009 | Bill would help schools, nonprofits teach financial literacy.
Filed Under: Economy - Labor
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If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
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