Financial literacy

I saw something 'interesting' in today's 'local' paper... Namely that the Kansas legislature recently passed a law/bill (Senate bill 41) "in an attempt to ensure that students would begin learning more about the financial world." "The bill directed school districts to use textbooks that include personal financial litercay components, and encourage the state board of education to review and rewrite assessments for mathmatics and social studies to ensure that a greater understanding of financial responcibility is taught."

*I* also found it very interestingly noted that "in January, the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy approved a report with recommendations to improve financial literacy among all Americans."

A quote from council chairman Charles Schwab goes as follows... "There is no question that the lack of personal financial literacy has been a majoy contributing factor to the economic and financial crisis in the United States."

If you already happen to be a reader of my blog then you may know that I feel this 'personal financial illiteracy' was a decades long 'planned' event and outcome. It allowed the credit bubble and housing bubble to inflate to ever greater proportions. Especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the recession of that period and the jobless recovery that followed. At that time also, under the administration of George Bush, the government was desperate to find a way to prop up and reflate the economy. The obvious answer (to the Keynesian idiots) was to make credit so incredibly easy to get for ALL Americans that there was no way the economy could not recover. And recover it did...

It is too bad that it was those poor decisions in 2001 that have led to a great deal of our problems today. Though the government and the financial elites managed to drive the United States economy higher for several years they managed that remarkable feat ONLY by created an economy which was based on absolutely NOTHING but debt! With wild economic models that showed housing rising for eternity. With way TOO easy credit for EVERYONE. And with a constant loud drumbeat of 'consumerism' always in everyone's ears.

These 'achievements' were only possible DUE TO the financial illiteracy that existed then and exists still today in the United States. And it remains my contention that this financial illiteracy is and always was BY DESIGN! It is my opinion that our clueless kleptocratic leaders and soulless financial elites have once again 'outsmarted themselves'...

That 'they' have been SO successful in manipulating a large 'dumbed down' percentage of the American populace that it has finally back-fired on them in a way that will prove to be difficult if not impossible to reverse.

The debt problem with Americans is HUGE. Add to that FACT an unemployment rate of at least 17.5%, soaring foreclosures, wild commodity price fluctuations and you begin to understand that the American consumer is no more and will NOT be back any time soon.

It seems to me now that what the government has decided to do to address these problems is for the government itself to REPLACE the consumer in the American economy. 'They' are doing this by forcibly confiscating money from the entire American populace, redistributing that money to the banking elites who in turn use those tax dollars to reflate the the stock markets, mainly commodities, to 'give the impression' that the American economy is improving.

'They' are currently working frantically to come up with more and more ways 'they' can TAKE money from hard working Americans. Be that throught the markets, through massive tax increases (cap & trade, health care 'reform'), and any other means 'they' can dream up.

Another of my contentions is that our kleptocratic government and our financial elites KNOW that the economy of the United States is 'doomed to failure', that 'they' KNOW our social and cultural safety nets are about to collapse, that 'they' KNOW the United States is about to default on it's debt and that 'they' are doing nothing more right now than to 'buy some time' while 'they' consider the easiest way to transform the capitalistic democratic economy of the United States into the new paradigm of totalitarianism, dictatorship, oligarchy, tyranny, fascism, police state... take your pick but it's coming...

The debate over cap and trade (pretty non-existant) and over health care 'reform' should have proven by now to ALL Americans that we the people have absolutely NO input whatsoever into what/when/why/and how this government decides, unilaterally, to do. If you DO NOT SEE IT then you are blinded by stupidity...

I'm trying to be better prepared for those days to come... I Hope many of you are as well...

It is WAY WAY TOO LATE NOW to "attempt to ensure that students would begin learning more about the financial world." And, besides that FACT, if and when all Americans DO have adequate financial literacy then there will/would BE NO MORE ridiculous asset bubbles with which to pump up a totally debt based economy!

Bastards...

Greg