READING and WEALTH

Financial Freedom Begins By Reading

According to the US Department of Education, a family’s socio-economic standing is linked to reading skill. Using 4^th grade reading scores and associating those scores with wealth versus poverty, the results show that children from the wealthiest families score an average of 589. The US average score is 542. Children from the poorest families score 485.

It is unlikely that you found those results to be “earth shattering.” It is well-known that grade-level reading proficiency leads to success in school, success in college and ultimately, access to higher paying job opportunities.

The service economy now accounts for 9 out of 10 jobs. The higher paying positions require college degrees. A person can either work in retail or they can be a manager in that same store. The difference in pay and benefits are significant.

The lack of individual reading proficiency is degrading. In the 19^th century, slave owners outlawed reading among slaves because the ability to read would encourage a fight for freedom. Unlike the time of slavery, today’s poor reading proficiency is self-imposed. The decision made by too many people today is to forego reading and instead practice video gaming skills or just watch TV.

The lack of reading skills limits the choices people have to be successful. For a person to become an entrepreneur or run a small business, reading comprehension at the 10^th grade or higher is essential. The business owner needs to understand how to create marketing and advertising; how to operate a computer; how to select support services such as accounting or legal; how to fill out tax forms or apply for bank loans and services; and, how to network with others in the same business in order to minimize failure and reduce the learning curve. Without reading comprehension equal to the task, failure is eminent.

When a person realizes the reading skills and time necessary to be a successful entrepreneur or small business owner, they tend to retreat and stay “with their day job.” Unfortunately for too many persons, they will be tempted by pyramid schemes or MLM scams in an attempt to “get rich quick with little or no effort.”

Testimonials used in these scams are impressive and the promises appear real so why not take a shortcut and invest the last chunk of family savings? Scam artists prey on those with poor reading skills. They purposely create long and sometimes rambling product information sheets where the only easy-to-read items are the testimonials. They know people won’t read the entire article. That’s their legal loophole – it was “all explained” but the person didn’t read it. The focus (or quick reading/scanning) is always on what people will notice: the testimonials.

The people at the top of these scams become wealthy; the “investor” ends up with a basement full of products no one needs and an empty bank account. This financial tragedy can be traced to poor reading comprehension.

Certainly the inability to read at a high school level opens the door for scams and fraud. A person’s intuition and use of good judgment will always be compromised by illiteracy. And the cycle of poverty continues.

Mortgaging the Future

In the documentary, Why We Fight, President Dwight Eisenhower in his 1961 Farewell Address warned Americans about the dangers of the military-industrial complex. He made the statement that for every B-1 bomber built with taxpayer money, 3 elementary schools don’t get built. This from a person who had spent his entire non-political life in the military! Eisenhower knew, like most educated people, that the strength of a country comes from building value in its citizens.

How expensive is the war in Iraq? Well according to data compiled by the New York Times, the $300 billion spent so far, would have totally rebuilt the US education system from pre-K to graduate school. New medical and nursing schools could have been funded, modern vocational schools featuring heavy equipment training would have been made available and the capital improvements necessary for inner city schools to become more competitive in attracting quality teachers and providing more diverse programs (music, art) to those in the most need.

If the Iraq War never happens, the US would have had enough money to fund a universal health care program for every US citizen for the next 30 years. Or, part of the financial surplus could have been used to address the new economy built around alternative energy development.

Instead, it will take generations to recover financially from this political folly. Given the many economic obstacles that the US needs to overcome, recovery may never happen. As stated in Why We Fight: “It is nowhere written that the American empire goes on forever.”

Let’s hope that a return to compromise, negotiations and peaceful intentions are the cornerstones of the next election.

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