It is being overly polite to Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke to report on his concerns about increasing financial literacy without noting his own contributions to the public's financial confusion. Even when the housing bubble was near its peak, Mr. Bernanke insisted that there was no bubble. If Mr. Bernanke and other prominent economists had warned the public of the bubble, instead of denying its existence, they could have prevented millions of families from losing their life savings by overpaying for a house. It would have been reasonable to note this fact when discussing M.r Bernanke's call for improved financial education.
--Dean Baker