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PR Newswire.com
7/27/10
College Students Call on Schools and Financial Institutions for Improved Financial Education
"College students need better financial literacy education...according to a national survey released today by Higher One Holdings, Inc...Students are increasingly aware of the need to be financially literate and are eager to learn."
The Washington Post
7/24/10
Federal budget deficit to exceed $1.4 trillion in 2010 and 2011
"The federal deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion last year, will exceed that figure this year and again in 2011, the White House predicted... 'The president cannot afford to sweep this type of fiscal warning under the carpet, or we risk that policymakers will go on their merry way...ignoring the warnings and marching towards fiscal calamity.*'"
*Maya MacGuineas, President Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
Senate Banking Committee Testimony
Ben Bernanke
7/21/10
"It is important we have a strong and credible plan for reducing deficits over the next few years...very significant fiscal issues over the medium-term...I absolutely agree this is a concern."
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke
CNNMoney.com
7/19/10
Obama's debt panel: Hints of an endgame
"Mandatory spending covers, among other things, entitlement programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security...'We are going to have to reform the entitlements. And it's not just the entitlements. It's all the mandatory spending...that's a big amount of what we're looking at, Bowles* said."
*Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of President's Fiscal Commission
International Monetary Fund
7/8/10
U.S. Economy Recovering, Debt And Unemployment Next Challenges
"The IMF suggested three elements for a credible plan,
A clear plan for stabilizing debt...
A downpayment on stabilizing the debt...
Reform of entitlement programs such as Social Security."
New York Times
7/8/10
For Democrats, Debt Debate And Familiar Ring of Disunity
"...if Mr. Obama is serious about changing the nation's fiscal trajectory, he will not necessarily be able to rely on his own party's majorities...to get it done. Instead, the president would probably have to build a genuine coalition of lawmakers from both parties."
The New Yorker
7/5/10
Greater Fools
"...when it comes to financial matters, many Americans have been left without a clue. The depth of our financial ignorance is startling...The difference between knowing a little about your finances and knowing nothing can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars...as the past ten years have shown us, the cost to society can be far greater than that."
Bloomberg
6/28/10
G-20 Responds to European Debt Crisis With Deficit-Cutting Goal
"'With respect to deficits, markets are giving Europe direction, and markets are more powerful than words from President Obama' said Tony Fratto, who served as a White House and U.S. Treasury official under President George W. Bush."
New York Times
6/27/10
A Pendulum Swing Toward Austerity
"If any financial policy idea is taking a major place on the American and global stages, it is fiscal austerity..While we can expect a larger public sector in America, the cause is mainly the aging of the population, and it will play itself out over the next 30 years...Even if our fiscal problems lie in the more distant future, it's important to start worrying about them now, becasue we cannot count on a grand plan later to save the day."
The New York Review of Books
6/24/10
'The Time We Have is Growing Short'
Paul Volcker,Chair Economic Advisory Board
"In an uncertain world, our currency and credit are well established. But there are serious questions...about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs...Are we really prepared to meet those problems, and the related fiscal implications? If not, today's concerns may soon become tomorrow's existential crises."
WSJ.com
6/19/10
Is There A Cure for Financial Illiteracy?
"...the Finra Education Foundation...found that about half of those 45 or older hadn't tried to calculate their retirement needs...and only one in five knew that when interest rates rise, bond prices fall."
The Buck Stops Where?*
What D.C. Influencers Say About the National Debt
D.C. Leaders Believe In Practical Solutions To The Deficit and National Debt, But Doubt They're Politically Possible
June 30th, 2010
Panel @ National Academy of Public Administration and Public Agenda
Washington DC
*see POLITICS at left
Marketwatch.com
6/3/10
National Debt: To infinity & beyond
"... national debt is growing quickly. In fact, it now only takes us six or seven months to add on another trillion dollars of debt...The financial soundness of our governmental balance sheet is of critical importance...Unfortunately, we, the people, and our respresentatives, seem to have forgotten that basic fact, at the local, state and national levels."
Newsweek
5/28/10
The Next Wave of the Crisis
"...a new and powerful theme: the perception on the part of investors and traders that the world has entered an era of extreme political risk...Markets are also beginning to worry about how policymakers in the U.K., Japan, and the U.S. will handle their soaring debts, all at unprecedented peacetime levels..."
Bloomberg
5/28/10
Spain Loses AAA Rating at Fitch Amid Deficit Crisis
"Spain lost its AAA credit grade at Fitch Ratings amid a fiscal crisis...Spain is struggling to cut the euro region's third-largest budget deficit...The austerity program, which won applause from the International Monetary Fund, will undermine the recovery..."
eucommerz.com
5/26/10
Financial literacy in the spotlight*
"The sooner you provide the necessary tools to understand the complexity of financial issues, the better it is for the European citizens."
*The conference 'Financial Literacy: Dolceta', taking place in Brussels on 28 May will bring together national and EU stakeholders..."
New York Times
5/23/10
Europeans Fear Crisis Threatens Liberal Benefits
"...many across Europe say the Continent will have to adapt to fiscal and demographic change...'Europe won't work without that,' said Joschka Fischer, the former German foreign minister...'It's a matter of national security, of our democracy.'"
Wall Street Journal
5/20/10
Return of the Bond Market Vigilantes
"The U.S. is a case in point. Under continutation of current policies, our budget deficit and national debt would soar to impossible heights...no serious person should believe we can do it without both spending cuts and higher taxes."*
*Alan Blinder, former Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board & Economics Professor, Princeton University
CNBC
5/20/10
China to US: Put Your Fiscal House in Order
" Zhu Guangyo shifted attention to Beijing's own worries about U.S. policies, especially its soaring deficit... 'The European sovereign debt crisis is a challenge not just for the countries that are party to it, such as Greece. In fact, it is a challenge to the stability of the entire international financial market,' he said*."
Zhu Guangyao, Assistant Finance Minister, China
Bloomberg
5/19/10
Roubini Says U.S. May Face Bond 'Vigilantes" Within Three Years
"'Bond market vigilantes...and soon enough they could wake up in the U.K., in Japan , in the United States if we keep on running very large fiscal deficits' Roubini said...'The chances are they are going to wake up in the United States in the next three years and say, 'this is unsustainable.'"
CNBC
5/18/10
Wilbur Ross: Global Debt Crisis
"You can't cure debt with more debt. All that does is buy a little bit of time...I think what will actually happen to Greece and a lot of the other countries is at best stagflation...The fundamental cause of letting people live better than what they really should is what caused our financial crisis..."
Bloomberg
5/14/10
Democrats Unlikely to Pass Budget in Face of Spiraling Deficits
"Democrats will likely skip the annual task of writing a budget for the U.S. government this year amid lawmakers' unwillingness to endorse a plan sure to include huge deficits...Representative Paul Ryan ...called that 'alarming as spending, deficits and debt continue to spiral out of control.'"
Marketwatch.com
5/14/10
The Second Debt Storm
"The debt mountain that brought down some of the world's biggest banks and dragged the international financial system to the brink of disaster has simply shifted to governments...'The problem of the western world is that we have too much debt' said Daniel Arbess...'Rather than reducing our debt, we've been moving it from one balance sheet to another. All we're doing is shifting chairs on the deck of the Titanic,' he added."
New York Times
5/13/10
In Spain, Government Spells Out Civil Pay Cuts
"Spain's government is planning pay cuts...The measures are in line with those for other weakened euro countries like Greece and Ireland. Portugal will announce its plans in the next few days."
Bloomberg
5/8/10
EU to Set Up Fund to Prevent Spread of Greek Crisis
"Europen leaders agreed to set up an emergency fund to halt the spread of Greece's fiscal woes, seeking to prevent a sovereign debt crisis from shattering confidence in the 11-year-old euro...With the euro region's overal deficit forecast at 6.6 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 and 6.1 percent in 2011, the vow to bring budget shortfalls back below the euro's 3 percent limit echoes promises that have been regularly broken..."
Wall Street Journal
5/3/10
Greece Bailout Isn't a Bond Cure-All for Europe
"In fact, 'over the next several years you're going to have a series of rolling debt crises,' he* says. Against that backdrop, the markets are 'undergoing a major regime shift in terms of people recognizing that sovereign risk is underpriced.'"
*Scott Mather, Head PIMCO Global Portfolio Management
Bloomberg
4/29/10
Roubini Says Rising Sovereign Debt Leads to Defaults
"'The thing I worry about is the buildup of sovereign debt' said Roubini...'Greece is just the tip of the iceberg, or the canary in the coal mine for a much broader range of fiscal problems.'"
First Meeting of Fiscal Commission
April 27, 2010
Washington DC
President Obama Remarks
"That's why I appointed the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform."
Federal Reserve Chair Bernanke Statement April 2010
BERNANKE:"The reality is that the Congress, the Administration and the American people will have to choose among making modifications to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security, restraining federal spending on everything else, accepting higher taxes, or some combination thereof."
By The President of the United States of America
April 2010
National Financial Literacy Month 2010
Now, Therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2010 as National Financial Literacy Month.
The New York Times
4/18/10
Can't Cut Spending? Look Around the Globe
"Right now there is plenty of concern about debt and deficits, but little consensus on which expenditures should be cut or reined in. Sooner or later, we'll have to reconsider virtually every segment of the federal budget."
Meet The Press
4/18/10
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
"The President recognizes the deficit is too high and will have to come down...He's committed to bring the deficits down...Healthcare reform will be enormously important in bringing down our long term deficits dramatically over time...You don't hear people saying anymore deficits don't matter."
The New York Times
4/15/10
Bernanke Says a Plan to Address the U.S. Deficit Could Keep Rates Down
"Mr. Bernanke's fiscal admonitions came a week after he gave a speech in Dallas warning that the country must prepare for the aging of the population."
Bernanke Testimony Before Joint Economic Committee of Congress
Washington DC
4/14/10
"We as a nation face the difficult task of fiscal responsibility...Addressing the country's fiscal problems will require difficult choices, but postponing them will only make them more difficult."
Wall Street Journal
4/12/10
To Fix Deficit, Tax Man Must Knock on Many Doors
"Mr. Obama might want to postpone the day of budget reckoning until after the 2012 election. Some economists worry that the U.S. won't have that much time...the financial markets suddenly might lose confidence in U.S. ability to repay its debt."
The New York Times
Business Section
4/11/10
The Chatter
"The arithmetic is, unfortunately, quite clear."*
*Ben S. Bernanke, chariman of the Federal Reserve, on the fiscal challenges that an aging American population poses for the United States.
Wall Street Journal
4/8/10
Bernanke Says U.S. Should Tackle Debt
"...in the long run, we are all on Social Security and Medicare," Mr. Bernanke said. Cutting the deficit ultimatley will mean cutting those entitlements, which will soar as baby boomers retire, raising taxes, or other spending cuts...Mr. Bernanke said, deficits could run between 4% and 7% of GDP, which he said aren't sustainable."
Financial Times
4/1/10
Watch out for sovereign black holes in the credit universe
"Sovereign debt is normally deemed risk-free...And the increase in debt ratios is on a different scale because it simultaneously affects all the big economies. Unless immediately addressed, the excess of sovereign debt will be the next chapter in the credit crisis."
Real Clear Markets
3/29/10
"According to the Social Security and Medicare trustees report, the unfunded liabilities of these New Deal and Great Society programs exceed $100 trillion dollars...Try this on for size. If you confiscated the entire Gross Domestic Product of the US for ten years you couldn't cover all these liabilities."
Meet the Press
3/28/10
"The idea it reduces the deficit is a flat out lie...You don't include the money we're going to spend to fix the doctor problem, which is $200 billion...So it is a house of cards It is a Ponzi scheme of the first order. It's gonna blow up the deficit. It's gonna affect every business, every family in this country."*
*Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican
The New York Times
3/25/10
"The bursting of the real estate bubble and the ensuing recession have hammered jobs, home prices and now Social Security...the Congressional Budget Office's projection with small surpluses...in 2014 and 2015. After that, demographic forces are expected to overtake the fund, as more and more baby boomers leave the work force, stop paying into the program and start collecting their benefits."
The New York Times
3/23/10
"That leaves Social Security, the other big entitlements benefit program...Steny H. Hoyer...who is the House majority leader...called for the two parties to compromise on a mix of tax increases and benefit reductions to avert fiscal chaos."
Wall Street Journal
3/21/10
House Democrats last night passed President Obama's federal takeover of the US health-care system...While the passage of Obamacare marks a liberal triumph, its impact will play out over many many years...As for the politics, the first verdict comes in November."
The New York Times
The Perils Of Pay Less, Get More
3/17/10
"The biggest hurdle to solving the deficit problem will be politics, not economics...None of us like the idea of losing benefits or paying more taxes."
The New York Times
3/10/10
"The hard choices forced upon Ireland are confronting governments around the world. The U.S. and Britain have huge budget deficits that are potent political issues. Cash-strapped cities and states in the U.S. are slashing services."
CNBC
The White House
2/26/10
President Obama Names Members of Bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
CNBC
2/24/10
Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke
"Plans to reduce medium to long term deficit gives us more flexibility in the short-term...We may find ourselves facing higher interest rates even today...There would be a benefit to a fiscal exit if you will."
(Federal Reserve Building in Washington DC)
Wall Street Journal
2/1/10
Deficit to Hit All-Time High
"The deficit is forecast to stabilize...before beginning to rise again, according to the White House projections. The projected rise is due to the retirement of the baby boomers which is expected to result in increased spending on Medicare and Social Security."
U.S. News
1/29/10
Obama creates financial literacy council
"U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday creating an Advisory Council on Financial Capacity to help improve Americans' financial literacy."
The Washington Post
1/15/10
"At the same time, we also recognize that we need to address the long legacy of overspending in Washington."
Forbes.com
1/13/10
America's Financial Illiteracy
"That suggests that the most important role for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency may be to increase the public's financial literacy."
CNBC
1/11/10
Dollar Crisis Looms if US Doesn't Curb Deficit : Experts
"The national debt has risen above 50 percent of GDP (gross domestic product)...and within 20 years will blow past a previous record above 100 percent of GDP..."
UncommonWisdomDaily.Com
1/11/10
Bernanke Bullion, Revisited...
The primary cause of gold's surge is fundamental and long-lasting...The eventual recognition that Washington is financially broke beyond repair...the growing loss of confidence in governments, here and across the globe..."
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Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly
7/28/10
"The need for financial literacy trumps how wealthy you are. This is a key finding in the latest Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Quarterly...'Companies are increasingly offering employees greater access to meaningful financial tools with advice and guidance...from the earliest stages of their careers through their transition into retirement.'"
Financial Times
7/25/10
The political genius of supply-side economics
"Indeed, nothing may be done even if a genuine fiscal crisis were to emerge...It should be noted in passing, that a federal default would surely create the biggest financial crisis in world economic history...If so, that would be the end of the US era of global dominance."
Bloomberg
7/22/10
Obama weighs austerity with stiff upper lip
"Which is why Obama, as he thinks long and hard about whether to embrace austerity or risk the embarrassment of the U.S. losing its AAA rating, is already adopting another durable British invention: the stiff upper lip."
The Daily Beast
7/20/10
Cutting National Debt=Stimulus
"Not all the increase in the deficit is due to the stimulus packages...unsustainable growth of entitlement programs is a big part of the problem. But a focus on deficit spending distracts from efforts to address the long-brewing entitlement problem."
Huffington Post
7/16/10
The World Applauds The New Financial Regulation
"The creation of the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection will work to improve product disclosures and financial literacy so that consumers ultimately make smarter purchases."
The Washington Post
7/12/10
Obama's debt commission warns of fiscal 'cancer'
"Bowles said that unlike the current economic crisis...the coming fiscal calamity is staring the country in the face. 'This one is as clear as a bell.' he said. 'This debt is like a cancer.'"
Financial Literacy and Ignorance
7/7/10
Financial Literacy Among the Young
"Financial literacy is low among young adults. Only 27% of people age 23-28 can answer three basic questions about interest rates, inflation and risk diversification."
From the Office of Thomas DiNapoli
DiNapoli Launches "Financial Soccer" Interactive Game
7/7/10
"New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli joined in the excitement of the 2010 FIFA World Cup today by launching Financial Soccer...'Now more than ever, it's important for every New Yorker--young and old--to understand how money works.'"
Congress of United States
June 2010
Congressional Budget Office
"Under current laws and policies, an aging population and rapidly rising health care costs will sharply increase federal spending for health care programs and Social Security. Unless revenues increase at a similar pace, such spending will cause federal debt to grow to unsustainable levels."
The Gazette
6/30/10
Lack of financial literacy will lead to problems later
"There is a clear role for parents to play in making their children financially literate. A study by the Canadian Bankers Association this year found 65% of teens said they learned about financial matters from their parents."
CNBC
6/28/10
Obama Says He's Serious About Tackling Deficits
"President Barack Obama said Sunday he would follow through on a pledge to rein in soaring U.S. budget deficits and said that would involve presenting Americans with 'some very difficult choices' next year...Obama said structural budget problems were looming as the aging of the U.S. population pushes up spending for health and retirement programs."
WSJ.com
6/22/10
Obama's Budget Chief to Step Down
"Mr. Orszag...also failed to make a dent on a deficit swollen by spending that shot up during the economic downturn...The deficit is lingering at nearly 10% of the gross domestic product...The commission is looking at cuts to discretionary spending and entitlements such as Social Security and Medicare..."
WSJ.com
6/22/10
U.K. Government Delivers 'Unavoidable' Budget
"Britain's new government set out what it dubbed the 'unavoidable budget' as it sought to cut one of the worst deficits in the world...Treasury chief George Osborne...will eliminate the structural current deficit..."
WSJ.com
6/18/10
U.S. Debt and the Greece Analogy
Alan Greenspan*
"An urgency to rein in debt seems to be gaining momentum among American lawmakers. If so, it is none too soon...Our economy cannot afford a major mistake in underestimating the corrosive momentum of this fiscal crisis."
*Former Federal Reserve Chairman
Bernanke Testimony Before House Budget Committee
6/9/10
"Achieving long-term fiscal sustainability will be difficult...But unless we as a nation make a strong commitment to fiscal responsibility, in the longer run, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth."
Bloomberg
6/7/10
Merkel Seeks 'Decisive' German Cuts as Geithner Urges Spending
"Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany is poised for a 'decisive' round of budget cuts that will shape government policy for years to come, fueling disagreement with U.S. officials who favor measures to step up growth."
Telegraph.co.uk
6/5/10
Stephen Green calls on schools to teach children about money
Stephen Green, the chariman of HSBC, has called for schools to introduce financial literacy programmes.
"I really don't think it's wise in the circumstances of modern life to have people come out of the school system into working life or, sadly, often not working life, without the very basics of financial literacy."*
*Stephen Green, Chairman of HSBC
TIMESONLINE*
6/2/10
This is the age of war between the generations
"The most important book...written by a senior minister in the new Government...the unsustainable size of the public debt. The book is called The Pinch...'How the baby-boomers took their children's future and why they should give it back.'"
*TIMESONLINE is a property of Times of London
New York Times
5/29/10
A Growing Aversion to Red
Congressional Memo: Currently in Vogue On All Sides: Ringing The Deficit Alarm
"Deficits finally matter...A growing number of House and Senate members see both the annual deficits and the accumulated federal debt--hovering now at the $13 trillion threshold--as time bombs for future generations."
CNBC
5/27/10
Sovereign Debt Issuance to Speed Up, at Europe's Peril
"'The aftermath of the financial crisis is poised to bring a simmering fiscal problem in industrial economies to the boiling point,' Bank of International Settlements Chief Economist Stephen Cecchetti said in a research paper, 'The Future of Public Debt: Prospects and Implications.'"
CNBC
Geithner Offers China Vow of Greater Fiscal Discipline
5/25/10
"China, which holds some $895 billion of U.S. Treasury debt, has previously expressed concern over the size of the U.S. deficits and the safety of Chinese investments...Geithner was at pains thorughout the China visit to try to assure Chinese officials that budget discipline was coming back to the United States."
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
Reuters
5/19/10
Europe's Debt Crisis Shows Risks for U.S.
"Europe's debt crisis shows the risks for the U.S. if it does not get its budget deficits under control, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said Tuesday...and he warned of the need to address long-term budget problems such as the expected growth in social programs as the U.S. population ages. 'There are serious questions, most immediately about the sustainability of our commitment to growing entitlement programs,' said Volcker..."
Wall Street Journal
5/15/10
The Fed's Monetary Dissident
"'Greece is a lesson for us,' he warns, 'in the sense that we shouldn't be so...arrogant to think that that couldn't happen to us or others...But U.S. deficits are not sustainable...There could be pressure on the Fed to print its way out of the problem, Mr. Hoenig* acknowledges, and 'the outcome will be a very strong inflationary bias.'"
*Thomas Hoenig, Federal Reserve Bank President, Kansas City
New York Times
5/12/10
Greece, Debt And a Lesson
"It's easy to look at...politicians in Greece...and wonder why they don't get it...Yet in the back of your mind comes a nagging question: how different, really, is the United States? The numbers on our federal debt are becoming frighteningly familiar. And politicans, spendthrift as some may be, are not the main source of the problem.
We, the people are."
President Obama Remarks to The Business Council
5/4/10
"Now we also have to recognize that the long-term economic health of our country depends on addressing the fiscal health of our government...We have a structural deficit that is unsustainable...I think you understand the choices are going to be tough...We're determined to put our nation on a stronger fiscal footing."
New York Times
5/2/10
Much To Love and Hate In a VAT
"Over the past century...the federal government has expanded the social safety net, including programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and, most recently, the insurance subsidies...Yet Congress has been more successful promising benefits than finding the revenue to pay for them. A VAT could solve that problem."
Peter G. Peterson Foundation*
2010 Fiscal Summit
America's Crisis and A Way Forward
April 28, 2010
Washington DC
President Bill Clinton, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag, Co-Chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, former Federal Reserve Chairs Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan and Members of the Congress
Highest Ranking Economic Officials From Both Parties Foresee Another US Economic Crisis Within 10 Years Unless US Takes Immediate Action on Structural Deficit*
*Statement @ pgpf.org
NationalAffairs.com
Spring 2010
America in the Red by Donald B. Marron*
"Budget-watchers once spoke of these looming challenges as a distant, long-term threat...That is no longer true....We now live in a world in which financial markets speculate about the odds of the U.S. government's defaulting, and in which major foreign creditors express concern about our ability to pay our debts."
*Donald B. Marron is a visiting professor at Georgetown Public Policy Institute
NYSE Euronext Financial Literacy Week, April 26-30
4/22/10
"Underscoring its ongoing commitment to enhance financial literacy, NYSE Euronext (NYX) will kick off its inaugural Financial Literacy Week on April 26 with a week-long series of partnership events and bell ringing ceremonies globally..."
Financial Literacy and Education Summit 2010
4/19/10
Ben Bernanke*
"Education is paramount to building financially literate citizens whose collective decisions create a more prosperous and stable economy."
*Federal Reserve Chariman
Huffington Post
4/18/10
Financial Literacy as the New Civil Right: Why It Matters to Business in America
"This is why financial literacy is not only the nest civil right but critically important to American competitiveness and business too."
Business Week
4/15/10
A Type of Learning That Pays Dividends
"Making financial literacy a new civil right will give millions of Americans a shot at prosperity...When we're ready to take the idea of financial literacy as everyone's right seriously..."
Financial Literacy Remains a Concern
4/12/10
"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stated, 'We must also do a better job of making sure our students graduate from high school with a better understanding of basic economics, basic finance...'"
The New York Times
4/10/10
Math, Civics and How to Budget
"While more states are beginning to require some sort of personal finance instruction...financial literacy experts say...just 13 states require students to take a personal finance course...before they graduate from high school..."
Business Week
4/8/10
Fed's Duke Says Financial Literacy Should Be School Requirement
"Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke said that financial literacy should be a standard part of the curriculum in U.S. schools."*
*Remarks prepared for an Event on Financial Education in Washington D.C.
ABC "This Week"
4/4/10
Alan Greenspan*
*Former Chair, Federal Reserve Board
"The national debt is an issue. Our buffer between our capacity to borrow or not is narrowing. If the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) estimates are wrong, the consequences are very high."
The Atlantic
4/1/10
How Will We Know When Our Debt is in Danger?
"As the looming debt challenge gains currency in the mainstream media...it will be important to explain why the deficit should be cut in the first place."
Investor's Business Daily
Social Security Is Running Out of Money
3/30/10
"Entitlements: Social Security's chief...reports that the social safety net will run a deficit for 2010, nine years earlier than predicted...No sooner had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi...taken a victory lap...the chief actuary of Social Security Administration report that his part of the social safety net had a big hole in it and would run a deficit for all of 2010."
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke Testimony before Congress
3/25/10
"Clearly everyone agrees that the overall fiscal outlook for the government is somewhat dark over the medium term, and it would be very useful if there could be a bipartisan, concerted effort to explain, demonstrate and decide how the government is going to achieve a more sustainable fiscal trajectory."
Bloomberg
Lipsky Says Debt Challenges Face Advanced Economies
3/21/10
"Advanced economies face 'acute' challenges in tackling high public debt...'This surge in government debt is occurring at a time when pressure from rising health and pension spending is building up,' Lispky said...The U.S. budget deficit...figures indicate the deficit this year will probably surpass the record $1.4 trillion in the fiscal year that ended in September."
Financial Times
3/11/10
How to handle the sovereign debt explosion
"Today, we should all be paying attention to a new theme: the simultaneous and significant deterioration in the public finances of many advanced economies... Countries will thus be forced to make difficult decisions relating to higher taxation and lower spending."
The Economist
3/6-12-2010
Who pays the bill?
"The main fault-line is often intergenerational...Middle-aged Americans have written cheques on the accounts of their children...The graver threat this time is that countries are tempted to diminish their debts through higher inflation."
Los Angeles Times
2/28/10
America, the fragile empire
"Here today, gone tomorrow--could the United States fall that fast?"
CNBC
2/22/10
Simpson: Attack the Deficit
"The word 'entitlements' has killed us...This is a 1.6 trillion dollar deficit in one year...You're going to have to do something with the entitlements...The word itself has killed us...Do you know by doing nothing with social security, entitlements, medicare, these engines are coming down the track and everything will be gone."
The White House
2/18/10
Remarks by the President Establishing the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
President Obama:"I know the issue of deficits has stirred debate...But with the commission that I'm establishing today...I believe we are finally putting America on the path towards fiscal reform and fiscal responsibility."
US Department of the Treasury
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Education Secretary Arne Duncan National Financial Capability Challenge
National Financial Capability Challenge April 2010
Average Score 70 Percent among 76,000 participating students in 50 States*
Meet the Press
2/7/10
Henry Paulson
Former US Treasury Secretary
"I have no doubt the deficit is by far the most serious issue facing Washington."
Alan Greenspan
Former US Federal Reserve Chairman
"History tells us that nations that are challenged to borrow no longer remain super powers."
Barron's
1/18/10
"But the aging of the baby boom generation...will drive federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security up by 10% of GDP per year by 2040...If we borrow to finance the retirment of 80 million people...Americans will contract a debt vastly more burdensome than the debt for World War II."
FinLitTV iPhone app
Nayla Atallah says,
"The new iPhone FinLitTV app is a great way to test one's knowledge about issues relevant to us...It is both fun and educational!"
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