Economic illiteracy is as much a handicap as not being able to read. Without a basic understanding of economics, people fail to adequately save and invest. Credit cards turn into unmanageable debt and bankruptcy. Informed purchasing decisions, whether at the grocery store or the new car showroom, are difficult, even impossible to make. Consumers cannot calculate the real cost of products and services.
Citizens are clueless about how public policy affects their pocketbooks.
Without economic literacy, a person cannot run a business or a home or even a fiscally sound life. If that isn't enough to alarm you, maybe the results of a new Harris poll will. The National Council on Economic Education commissioned the poll, which surveyed a cross-section of adults and high school students across the country in January of this year. Half of the adults and almost two-thirds of the students did not know that the stock market provides a venue for people to buy and sell stocks. Those are failing grades.