Thanks as always to Pirate’s Cove and The Other McCain for the Rule Five links!
File this one under “Well, duh”: Americans are mostly economic illiterates. Excerpt:
Economic literacy has been in the news a lot lately, with some high-profile politicians demonstrating the need for some basic financial understanding. However, recent Job Creators Network/ScottRasmussen.com polling shows that the general public has a poor understanding of economic and personal finance topics as well, with a majority of Americans flunking five out of ten basic questions.
Questions revealed:
- 75 percent of people underestimated how long it would take to pay off $5,000 in credit card debt if you only paid the minimum.
- Only 27 percent of people knew how large the federal debt is expected to be in 2019.
- 60 percent of people didn’t know that a rise in the minimum wage would reduce the number of minimum wage jobs.
- Only 22 percent of people knew that the unemployment rate for Hispanic Americans was at an all-time low.
On the bright side, a majority of Americans understood the basics of supply and demand, tax deductions, credit scores, and fixed mortgage rates.
The public can take the quiz online at our InformationStation.org website, here.
It’s not just that Americans in general don’t understand these things; it’s that the generally lackwitted people who manage to get themselves elected to Congress don’t understand these things.
What’s interesting, though, is the polling results a little further down the page, which include these items (color highlighting added):
How would you rate the US economy today? Excellent (12%), Good (39%), Fair (32%), Poor (13%), Not sure (4%).
Is the economy getting better or worse? Better (36%), Worse (26%), About the same (33%), Not sure (5%).
Okay, how would you rate your own personal finances these days? Excellent (12%), Good (39%), Fair (31%), Poor (17%), Not sure (2%).
Are your personal finances getting better or worse? Better (33%), Worse (17%), About the same (48%), Not sure (3%).
Are companies in your area more likely to be hiring new workers or laying off existing workers? Hiring new workers (43%), Laying off existing workers (22%), Not sure (30%).
Add all of that up, and according to (at least) this survey, a plurality of Americans are pretty happy with the way the economy is going. That’s certainly good news for President Trump, as the historic key metrics for a Presidential election are 1) incumbency and 2) economy. Trump holds the high ground on both of those – oh, and it doesn’t hurt that the Democrat field is shaping up to be a race to the left, and a race of nitwits at that.
Still – November 2020 is a long damn ways away yet.
