I had Oprah, with guest Suze Orman, on TV tonight, (a great starting point clearly), and I was astounded by how retarded people are about how interest, debt, and financing work. Unless I'm being shown cases that are outside the norm, which I doubt, a significant amount of Americans are dumb as rocks, and have no clue how to handle money. This has to be factor as far as our current financial crisis in the US.
There are likely two places you learn about about money before you are an adult; school and parents. I'm wondering what kind of education people did get or are getting about economics these days. I would think that if the educational system did better, people would not ignorantly be racking up loads of debt. I don't want to solely blame the educational system, since there are areas where the curriculum is certainly adequate and kids still don't learn shit.
I'm wondering what kind of education you all have about economics, especially on a personal sense. I had a macro course in senior year of high school, which touched on how to manage money. In college I took a similar macroeconomics course that was more math intensive. In neither case did I feel like I was being given advice on how to appropriately manage money as an adult. Learning about how supply/demand curves or how the Fed works is not bad information, but from my experience, there should be more of a practical emphasis on personal economic skills.
There are likely two places you learn about about money before you are an adult; school and parents. I'm wondering what kind of education people did get or are getting about economics these days. I would think that if the educational system did better, people would not ignorantly be racking up loads of debt. I don't want to solely blame the educational system, since there are areas where the curriculum is certainly adequate and kids still don't learn shit.
I'm wondering what kind of education you all have about economics, especially on a personal sense. I had a macro course in senior year of high school, which touched on how to manage money. In college I took a similar macroeconomics course that was more math intensive. In neither case did I feel like I was being given advice on how to appropriately manage money as an adult. Learning about how supply/demand curves or how the Fed works is not bad information, but from my experience, there should be more of a practical emphasis on personal economic skills.