"Educated" =/= "wise"

One of many major problems today is the number of people walking around with pieces of parchment that convince them they're wiser than they really are:

A new study finds that highly educated Americans were most likely to take on unmanageable debt in the pre-crisis years.

The study draws a line at the point where monthly payment on household debt equals 40% of income. That’s where default or bankruptcy becomes most likely should the household experience a decline in income, say researchers led by Sherman Hanna, professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University.

Overall, the percentage of Americans exceeding this 40% threshold jumped to 27% in 2008, from 17% in 1992. College graduates were more likely to be in this group than those without a degree, according to the study. Those describing themselves as optimistic about the future also were among the most likely to have unmanageable debts, the study found. Says Hanna:

“People who piled on debt may have been too optimistic about their economic future, but you can’t blame that on a lack of education. People with college educations may have thought they were immune to any economic problems.”

Perhaps part of the problem is that much of what passes for "education" these days is really indoctrination.  Education is more than the simple learning of various pieces of information.  It involves learning how to process information in a manner that leads to rational conclusions.  Sometimes, the rational conclusion is that no matter how much you want something, you can't afford it.  Failure to accept such limits leads to the risky and increasingly criminal, er, creative financing schemes that have devastated the proper working of capital markets in recent years, along with millions of people who tried to play the rigged game.

Sadly, even more debt is being assumed in the pursuit of all this dubious 'education.'  So here's a highly accessible, no-cost sample of a free education available to anyone who's interested: 

Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.   Proverbs 22:26

(Free copies of this best-selling 'textbook' are available wherever Christians are following the Great Commission... pick one up today!)