elementary and secondary school level is essential to providing a foundation for financial literacy that can help prevent younger people from making poor financial decisions that can take years to overcome. for example, through a fundamental understanding of the mathematics of compounding interest, one can appreciate the cumulative benefit of routine saving. similarly, learning how to conduct research in a library or on the internet can be instructive in where and how to look for information to evaluate decisions. as i noted earlier, we have seen the market respond to an increased demand for conceptual job skills by increasing the range of educational options available to individuals. we are beginning to see similar efforts to provide consumers with information and training that will improve their knowledge on financial matters throughout their lives. for example, the u. s. military, in response to surveys that revealed that nearly one - third of enlisted service members reported moderate - to - severe difficulty in paying bills, has mandated that all incoming enlisted personnel receive financial education as a means of reducing stress related to personal fiscal matters. similarly, we are starting to see some school systems introduce financial management classes as part of their high - school curricula and many employers are taking up the challenge as well. at the federal reserve board, for example, interest in financial education prompted an employee committee to host a seminar on financial planning strategies, and our consumer and community affairs staff recently hosted several well - attended educational programs for employees who are thinking of buying their first home. more fundamentally, the recognition that more - productive workers and learning go hand - in - hand is becoming ever more visible both in the workplace and in schools. similar collaborative efforts to increase awareness of, and access to, information that promotes financial literacy are increasingly seen as necessary to ensure that consumers can meet their immediate obligations as well as achieve their broader goals of buying a home, funding higher education for themselves or their children, and preparing for retirement. just as we have recognized how critical it is to demystify technology and to increase workers ’ comfort and familiarity with the new tools required for their success, so should we work to educate consumers on evaluating the broad array of products offered by financial service providers and to empower them to make the choices that contribute to their overall economic well - being. an example of a collaborative effort in which the federal reserve system is involved is the treasury department ’ s financial literacy initiative. this nonpartisan, public - private endeavor promotes the development of personal financial literacy skills by capitalizing on the educational efforts of the partners. in particular,

increase in revenues. the budget enforcement act ( bea ) of 1990, and the later modifications and extensions of the act, almost surely contributed to the better budget outcomes as well, before the brief emergence of surpluses eroded the will to adhere to its deficit - containment rules. the key provisions of the bea expired in 2002, and no replacement has been adopted. reinstatement of a structure like the bea would signal a renewed commitment to fiscal restraint and would help restore discipline to the annual budgeting process. but it would be only a part of any meaningful endeavor to establish a framework for fiscal policy choices. the bea was designed to constrain legislative actions on new initiatives. it contained no provisions for dealing with unanticipated budgetary outcomes over time. it was also not designed to be the centerpiece for longer - run budget policy ; importantly, the bea did not set a clear objective toward which fiscal policy should aim. budget outcomes over the next decade will deviate, as they always have from projections - perhaps, significantly. accordingly, it would be quite helpful to have mechanisms in place that assist the congress in making mid - course corrections as needed. four or five decades ago, such mechanisms were unnecessary, in part because much of the budget was determined on an annual basis. indeed, in the 1960s, discretionary spending, which is subject to the annual appropriations process and thus comes under regular review by the congress, accounted for about two - thirds of total outlays. that share dropped markedly in the 1970s and 1980s as spending on retirement, medical, and other entitlement programs rose sharply. in the early 1990s, it fell below 40 percent, where it has remained over the past decade. the rise in the share of expenditures that is not subject to annual review complicates the task of making fiscal policy by effectively necessitating an extension of the budget planning horizon. in the 1960s and early 1970s, the president ’ s budgets provided information mainly for the upcoming fiscal year. the 1974 legislation that established a new budget process and created the congressional budget office required that cbo provide five - year budget projections. by the mid - 1990s, cbo ’ s projection horizon had been pushed out to ten years. given the changing composition of outlays, these longer planning horizons and the associated budget projections were essential steps toward allowing the congress to balance budget priorities sensibly. among other things, this change has made the budget process more reliant on forecasting. to be