Gov’t Looks Into Money ‘Food Pyramid’

Remember the food pyramid and how it shaped your nutritional habits? No? Me neither. But the federal government does and is planning to use a similar model to teach Americans financial literacy.

I say planning because the government hasn’t officially decided what this financial food pyramid will be. According this article in the  New York Observer, the government feels it should feature the following building blocks, in no particular order:

• Earning
• Spending
• Saving
• Borrowing
• Protecting against risk

This prospective pyramid is part of a Treasury Department initiative that will teach Americans “financial education core competencies.” According to the Office of Financial Education and Financial Access, “the development of core competencies is a fundamental step in establishing a clear understanding about what individuals should know and the basic concepts program providers should cover.”

The Office adds that the core competencies (whatever they are) “are particularly important in establishing a baseline of knowledge, which is crucial for both individuals and providers of financial education to address the current lack of consistency in various financial literacy programs in identifying their goals and objectives, how program success is measured, and what financial information and problem-solving skills participants can be expected to acquire.”

It’s a lot of fancy words, but I’ll go out on a limb and say they’re not happy with what Americans are learning –or haven’t learned, rather - at Trump University.

While it’s nice the government wants to teach us how to fish, after providing large corporations with so much bread and water, their new initiative is somewhat troubling. After all, it’s probably best to learn financial literacy from someone who knows how to balance their books and our country isn’t exactly in the black.