Financial knowledge is a very good skill to have. Whether we want it or not, most aspects of our lives are about money. Data from the World Economic Forum shows that about half of Americans are financially literate. In the EU, 65% of citizens understand inflation, and 45% can explain compound interest.
Understanding economics can be hard, but the WEF explains that "it's important to develop a basic understanding of the influential role money plays in our work, social life, health, education and everything in between."
Perhaps driven by the knowledge that more than a third of the population is probably not very well-versed in financial matters, one netizen decided to ask what the dead giveaways are. "What screams 'I'm economically illiterate'?" they wrote.
Some commenters misreading the question and giving answers about finance is pretty ironic, we have to admit. But, at the same time, it's a good reminder of how important educating yourself about money, personal finance, and economics is, right?
#2
Millionaires lecturing poor people how it's all about your attitude and mindset, as if the landlord will accept attitude as rent payment.
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113points
#3
Anyone promoting the idea that tax cuts for billionaires will feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless, or in any way improve the lot of Joe Schmoe.
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106points
#5
Refusing a raise because "it'll bump you up to the next tax bracket.".
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85points
#6
Professing that the current President is responsible for the economy, when in actuality, the President has very little to effect on it. Especially the global economy of which we are very much tied to.
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73points
#8
Not understanding marginal taxes.
No, there is no scenario where you get a raise and your take-home pay goes down because of reaching a new tax bracket.
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61points
#9
Complaining about endless credit card debt while getting every meal delivered. :|.
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56points
#12
There was a survey done in the last year or so, asking Americans whether they thought the current unemployment rate was a 50 year high or a 50 year low.
A substantial fraction thought it was a fifty year *high*.
Most people are totally unfamiliar with the actual economy and instead have beliefs driven by news headlines.
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47points
#13
A lot of people actively refuse to live at/below their means. You'll meet people making >$100,000 a year still living paycheck to paycheck because they just spend all the money they make.
Keep this in mind when people talk about the economy, since a lot of people complaining absolutely could be living comfortably if they downsized a bit. People who are actually struggling often sound basically the exact same as well-off people who have been slightly inconvenienced, which leads to a lot of distortion in how people perceive the economy.
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44points
#14
Oh man, there’s so many of these:
- Thinking that a tax write-off is equal to a tax refund
- Conflating one’s own financial struggles with rhetoric state of the national economy
- Thinking that rising interest rates are a cause of inflation, not a remedy of it
- Thinking saving cold hard cash outside of a bank is a sound investment strategy
- Defending tax cuts for the hyperwealthy while you personally don’t have two pennies to rub together.
- Conflating one’s own financial struggles with rhetoric state of the national economy
- Thinking that rising interest rates are a cause of inflation, not a remedy of it
- Thinking saving cold hard cash outside of a bank is a sound investment strategy
- Defending tax cuts for the hyperwealthy while you personally don’t have two pennies to rub together.
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42points
#15
Big new truck parked in front of a house that looks like it is about to fall down.
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41points
#18
Asking why can't we just print more money to solve a recession.
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36points
#19
One time I worked at lowes, and a customer wanted to buy an item. I told her that she could buy the rest of the items and come back for that one when we had it in stock.
She says "no because then I'll pay more in taxes."
She must have thought that purchasing items separately would cost more in sales taxes.
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33points