Financial literacy

[pms]

Wow.  A whole $250,000!  Will they teach people that Yahoo has headlines
like yesterdays, Factories Busier, that don't mention that capacity
utilization came in BELOW expectations and sitting at anemic 75-something %.
Or the headline that manufacturing was up, but not mentioning that it was
below expectations and, oh, by the way, we revised last months figures DOWN
by nearly half?  Despite all the reform crap in the paper, the hype on the
street looks pretty Wall Street 2000 in many ways.  Add to that that
yesterday I got two checks in the mail adding up to nearly $9000.00.  All
you have to do is sign and deposit to start paying 19.99% interest!  These
were from Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo, supposedly respectable
institutions as opposed to those sub-prime loan-sharks.  BTW, I'm kinda
insulted to get these.  Anybody else gotten this kind of stuff?  I mean I
ran up a LOT of debt after I quit my day job to make and lose a small
fortune on the tech boom, (got out Sept 2000, but continued to play cute),
but I don't have bad credit or anything.  Getting this kind of offer makes
me feel like a financial leper.

US Tsy, Education Department Join Forces To Push Financial Literacy

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Treasury and U.S. Department of Education
came together Thursday to announce new initiatives to promote financial
education, including a new $250,000 federal initiative.
"Financial education should be one of the cornerstones of a well-rounded,
high-quality education," said U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige. "We are
pleased to announce today that the department intends to make up to $250,000
available to a coalition of organizations working to promote financial
literacy among our nation's students."

Paige and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill decried trends of rising
credit-card debt and bankruptcy among college students and other young
adults. O'Neill said that financial education was an essential part of
helping children and young adults prepare for the future.

"Ownership, independence and access to wealth should not be the privilege of
a few. They should be the hope of every American," O'Neill said Thursday at
a roundtable of government and nonprofit organization representatives.

Officials said that financial literacy was a complement to, but not a
replacement of, consumer protection laws. Sheila Bair, Treasury's assistant
secretary for financial institutions, said the government continued to take
a strong approach toward regulatory protection and that Treasury was
actively seeking ways to reduce predatory-lending practices.

  -By Rebecca Christie; Dow Jones Newswires; 202 862 9249; rebecca.christie@
dowjones.com