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• Wednesday, April 2, 2008 11:34 AM

  I reject soup kitchens for a 21st century America.

  So while we teeter on the edge of this cliff, most of us too dumb to understand the fundamentals of how we got here because we have been told for the past decade that the fundamentals are sound, whatever the fundamentals are, shouldn’t we be concerned about how many prospective casualties there might be if the fundamentals prove to be bad, fundamentally?

  The Fed can only do so much to short-circuit a disaster if those snarkey fundamentals continue surfacing like hideous monsters from a sci-fi movie. Instead of helplessly waiting for the next shoe to drop while the privileged 20% move their “fundamentals” off shore and yacht around the world, why can’t we help ourselves?

  Here’s why. As Mr. Leonard so aptly puts it, “Americans are less equipped to weather the storm than they have been since, well, the Great Depression.” The first thing today’s teenagers demand when they come of age is, yeah, their driver’s license. Mr. Leonard’s three-step do-it-yourself action plan should include one more vital step——financial responsibility. How many high schools include classes in finances? How many teenagers are taught to maintain a checkbook, save money regularly and invest wisely?

  I submit to you that when every American child, rich or poor, all races is required to study and understand what money is for and how to use it, they will be IN CONTROL of their own finances and their own futures. And no one will be able to scam them into crappy mortgages. Can you imagine a financially educated America? Even when some of those kids decide to major in sociology or music——what’s wrong with being financially independent? It’s a no-brainer.

  —susan scharfman Read susan scharfman's other letters
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