A couple things really boggle my mind: 1) for whatever reason (being bad at basic math, lack of planning, an outsized desire to keep up with the Joneses, who honestly knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), Americans are terrible at personal finance. This leads to my second point: we propagate a culture of not discussing money because people don't want to discuss something they are not good at or they are embarrassed at how little they know/understand - in other words, ACTIVELY promoting ignorance. Unfortunately, this ignorance of finance is also linked (in my opinion) to a general ignorance of government and democracy.
You know the saying - knowledge is power. & as pressing as income inequality is, I think that actually just stems from another, more impactful circumstance of American life - knowledge inequality. You know who is financially illiterate? The average Joe. According to the St. Louis Fed, 57% of respondents couldn't answer 3 basic q's. If you check out that link and think those 3 questions don't accurately gauge financial literacy, then here are some more disturbing stats - 43% of Americans can't cover a $400 emergency, 38% of US households have CC debt to the tune of $16,000 at 16.75 APR (a terrible rate), and 56% of American adults have little or no retirement savings (33% have nothing saved + 23% have <$10,000 saved).
You know who is financially literate (& just so happens to benefit from the general population's ignorance)? People who set interest rates, CEO's, landlords, the whole financial sector (obviously), among others - basically, anyone who runs anything has to be financially literate. Don't get me wrong - I'm not so paranoid as to think that there's a conspiracy of elite plotting how to keep the general populace in the dark. I think the sad truth is that we've buried our heads so far in the sand that there doesn't need to be.
This circumstance - a minority of people who know how money works in the short & long-term compared to a majority who do not - creates other outcomes. A poor understanding of money leads to a poor understanding of government - from implementation (because policies require $$$ to enact, but people have no money sense) to elections (because more $$$ leads to higher chances of election, even though people think they are voting on ideas [while they are actually voting based on ads + exposure/propaganda]). Finally, a poor understanding of government leads to support of poor policies, officials, and institutions.
With all that being said - what's there to do? Well, ignorance is combated with education. Here is a great start. You could also search "personal finance." If you're opposed to learning by reading - go the social route! Talk to your parents, your friends, your coworkers - anybody, really*. At this age, there's no good excuse not to learn about how money works. Your housing, your diet, your health, transportation, and everything in between - they all revolve around money. & for crap's sake - you need to abandon the notion that talking about money is a bad thing. Don't forget - knowledge is power. & don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
*Full disclosure: I am a (pretty?) open book when it comes to money talks. Salary, budget, savings, retirement - you name it, I'll talk about it. I'm sure if you reach out to those you are close with, they'll display a similar willingness to discuss.
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Sunday, March 3, 2019
On America's Lack of a Team Mindset
Americans love team sports (and sports in general). We consume them year-round in many forms, across many venues, and across so many demographics. Young or old, minority or not, the great majority of us take in sports in some form or other. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL - is there even a calendar day in the year you can't catch at least one of the major sports (I honestly don't know)? Yet, for all our love of team sports, why do so many of us have such a poor concept of what it's like to be part of a team?
If you play, observe, or are familiar with team sports in a general capacity (one group of people tries beating another group of people in a contest), you're familiar with the idea that a team is only as good as its weakest player. If you're a basketball person, it might look like attacking the same, slow-footed player on the other team. If you're a football fan, it's spamming plays to continuously target one particularly (relatively) bad opponent that you know you can catch in a bad position. Games, series, and most certainly championships (Patriots attacking Goff in 2019) have been won/lost (Cavs decimating Curry in 2017) by attacking particular players. Those are just 2 famous examples, but I had to bring them up because I feel like a lot of people don't understand the concept, or they understand the concept in the context of sports but don't go on to extend that understanding to society/politics.
So what's the tie to society? Well there are many, really. Here are the first 3 things that come to mind, and they are relevant to everybody:
As it pertains to health: a country is only as healthy as its least healthy member. There's just too many ways to consider this one. Nutritional health. Mental health. Physical health. There's so many ways we're lacking. It's depressing to speak on it too much, so I'll just drop one tidbit: in the country with the largest economy in the world, about 13% of households experienced food insecurity in 2015 (according to the USDA). This impacted millions of children, so... yeah. We can't even reliably feed our kids. If that doesn't say anything to you about the state of our country, I don't know what to tell you.
As it pertains to wealth: a country is only as wealthy as its poorest members. This one is just laughably obvious to me. There are those who would have you believe that, since there are so many billionaires in our borders, that somehow benefits the rest of the country. Do y'all think that living in the same country as billionaires is of any comfort to those without water, medical access, or a roof over their heads? Lack of education and propaganda got people so good that they feel privileged just to grace the same soil as the super wealthy. Let me spell it out for you: just because Jeffrey Epstein is so rich and connected that he can abuse kids and get off with nary a slap on the wrist, that puts ABSOLUTELY NO MONEY in your pockets to help you pursuit happiness or fulfill your potential.
& if you think that anybody who is in dire straits "deserves it" - I can't deny that some certainly do. But I will remind you that bad things happen to good people - and if you're so devoid of empathy, compassion, and/or understanding that you don't see fit to pick up those who have only fallen due to poor luck, I sincerely hope that you'll eventually come to a better understanding of the world.
If you play, observe, or are familiar with team sports in a general capacity (one group of people tries beating another group of people in a contest), you're familiar with the idea that a team is only as good as its weakest player. If you're a basketball person, it might look like attacking the same, slow-footed player on the other team. If you're a football fan, it's spamming plays to continuously target one particularly (relatively) bad opponent that you know you can catch in a bad position. Games, series, and most certainly championships (Patriots attacking Goff in 2019) have been won/lost (Cavs decimating Curry in 2017) by attacking particular players. Those are just 2 famous examples, but I had to bring them up because I feel like a lot of people don't understand the concept, or they understand the concept in the context of sports but don't go on to extend that understanding to society/politics.
So what's the tie to society? Well there are many, really. Here are the first 3 things that come to mind, and they are relevant to everybody:
- Education
- Health
- Wealth
As it pertains to health: a country is only as healthy as its least healthy member. There's just too many ways to consider this one. Nutritional health. Mental health. Physical health. There's so many ways we're lacking. It's depressing to speak on it too much, so I'll just drop one tidbit: in the country with the largest economy in the world, about 13% of households experienced food insecurity in 2015 (according to the USDA). This impacted millions of children, so... yeah. We can't even reliably feed our kids. If that doesn't say anything to you about the state of our country, I don't know what to tell you.
As it pertains to wealth: a country is only as wealthy as its poorest members. This one is just laughably obvious to me. There are those who would have you believe that, since there are so many billionaires in our borders, that somehow benefits the rest of the country. Do y'all think that living in the same country as billionaires is of any comfort to those without water, medical access, or a roof over their heads? Lack of education and propaganda got people so good that they feel privileged just to grace the same soil as the super wealthy. Let me spell it out for you: just because Jeffrey Epstein is so rich and connected that he can abuse kids and get off with nary a slap on the wrist, that puts ABSOLUTELY NO MONEY in your pockets to help you pursuit happiness or fulfill your potential.
& if you think that anybody who is in dire straits "deserves it" - I can't deny that some certainly do. But I will remind you that bad things happen to good people - and if you're so devoid of empathy, compassion, and/or understanding that you don't see fit to pick up those who have only fallen due to poor luck, I sincerely hope that you'll eventually come to a better understanding of the world.
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