Darby Quast, Introduction, Question 6

While reading the introduction, what stood out to me the most was the fact that most people are essentially economically illiterate.  "Even many of our political leaders could use a dose of Econ 101".  If this issue was fixed, I believe that many of our nations biggest problems could be solved relatively easily.  It seems as though many Americans today are focusing on short term gains, rather than thinking about the future.  An example of this would be someone choosing to spend all of their money now, rather than saving for retirement.  Is driving a brand new car, or living in a big house worth having to work an extra ten years?  Another problem this causes is because people know so little, they may only see benefits and not consider the problems it would cause.  An example of this would be when Bill Clinton was fighting for an extra night in a hospital for women who delivered babies.  While this sounds like a good idea, the benefits would not outweigh the cost. It would cause insurance companies to raise their prices.  This would mean that now less people would be able to afford insurance.  An extra night of comfort is probably not worth people not being able to afford insurance.  Because so many people know nothing about economics, they aren't able to make smart decisions.  If they were given right tools and knowledge less bad decisions would be made.