(3) Our citizens need skills to avoid poverty. “Between the ages of 20 and 75, nearly 60 per cent of Americans will experience living for at least one year below the official poverty line, while 3/4 of America will encounter poverty or near-poverty.”-Poorly Understood, What America Gets Wrong About Poverty. The authors point out that unexpected events like “losing a job, families splitting up, or medical and health emergencies, all have the potential to start downward spiral into poverty.” Our present national economic situation strains out citizens even more.

(4) There has been a negative stigma associated with the poor. There is a widely held cultural belief that being poor is an individual human failing, that poverty is due “to lack of motivation, questionable morals and so on.”

(5) Is our education system based on the factory model that puts the emphasis on producing workers rather than innovators, entrepreneurs, and effective participants in our economy? See Robert Kiyosaki (2019), “Speech that Broke the Internet!!! KEEP THEM BROKE!!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azq0S0DKS50

(6) There has been a long history in this country of manipulating citizens financially. In a 1922 textbook titled Elementary Community Civics by R.O. Hughes, students were taught to budget and save. Buying government savings bonds was encouraged and stock buying was mentioned with a warning to be wary of “get-rich-quick” schemes. In 1950, instant debt was introduced to Americans with the advent of credit cards. In 2022, NYS added the practice of online gambling that furthers the unsound financial choices of our citizens, as does the use of NYS scratch-off tickets.

(7) We live in a society that aggressively encourages spending. Advertising has evolved into a highly sophisticated manipulation of spending habits. Advertisers target potential customers by monitoring online usage.

(8) We have a growing wealth gap in our country. This is evident in “forms of ‘opportunity hoarding” which make it harder for others to rise to the top. These unfair mechanisms including zoning laws, college admission procedures, and allocation of internships.”-Richard V. Reeves, Dream Hoarders, How the American Upper Middle Class is Leaving Everyone in the Dust, Why that is a Problem and What to Do about It

(9) Poverty perpetuates despair. “In a review of 273 studies of the US and a number of other countries by Lee Ellis and James McDonald, the authors found strong evidence of a relationship between criminal offending and low income, low occupational status, and low educational attainment.”-Poorly Understood

(10) Financial literacy alone will not solve all society’s problems, but it can be a great positive nonpartisan step in the right direction.

Please share your thoughts.

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