Why lawmakers may not be equipped

Lawmakers have recently taken on huge responsibilities: an extraordinary financial crisis, failing financial institutions, faltering automakers, and now hcare reform is squarely in their sights. It's no secret that the American public hasn't supported or agreed with many of the decisions. So why is it that lawmakers seem to think so differently from the rest of "us"?

Here is a recent news release from Econ4U.org:

“A Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy (CEEL) analysis of economic education among congressional members revealed that less than 15% of current members have degrees in the business, economics, or finance fields. The research showed that 30.5% of congressional members studied politics and government, while 18.1% majored in humanities. In fact there are more members who studied science (7.5%) than economics (6.7%).”

“More than 8 in 10 congressmen received no formal schooling in economics or business; it’s interesting that those who are responsible for solving the biggest economic crisis in generations don’t have the educational background to know the difference between commercial paper and copy machine paper.”

Lawmakers are, by no means, unintelligent individuals but would we allow engineers to make medical decisions? Chemistry majors to teach 2nd grade English? Architects to be marketers?


The full news release and additional resources may be found here:
http://www.econ4u.org/congressional_economic_illiteracy.cfm
http://www.econ4u.org