Overall, 46.1 percent of American households reported holding debt on credit cards. But a look at who is holding that debt yields surprising results.

In the section that breaks down debt by income bracket (Page A40), the report shows a peak of debtors in the 60 to 80th percentile of income (with a median salary of $71,500), with 62.1 percent of households in this bracket carrying a credit-card balance — well above the average. The bracket with the lowest percentage of debtors was the 20th percentile and under (earning a median salary of $12,300 and a debt rate at 25.7 percent). In other words: the very poorest among us.

This trend may seem counterintuitive — you would expect the poorest people to be the most in debt, and those who make more than the average household to be better financially situated — but it actually makes perfect sense.

Debt peaks among households just above the median income level because these are the people most likely to live beyond their means to try to keep up with the Joneses. And those in the 20th percentile and under are the least likely to carry credit-card debt because they don’t qualify for as many credit options in the first place (and are unlikely to qualify in the future given the new, stricter lending standards).

As for the people in the top decile of income, they are, essentially, the Joneses. And as such should really work on shedding that debt — with a median salary of $206,900, a debt rate of 40.6 percent is still too high when they’re the ones most able to afford life’s luxuries.

The report, which is highly regarded by most lawmakers and educators and widely used to measure state and national education levels, found that mathematics proficiency among fourth graders has not substantively improved. The New York Times notes:

Scores increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a sluggish six-year trend of slowing achievement growth since passage of the [No Child Left Behind], which requires schools to bring 100 percent of students to reading and math proficiency by 2014.

The need for effective elementary education and strong economic education across the country remains prevalent. Without basic math skills, it can be almost impossible for young adults to acquire financial literacy and learn how to manage their own money. Not to mention scores of other essential skills like knowing how to calculate interest on a loan or budgeting money for the future. In order to make cost-effective choices in their lives, American consumers must first be provided the fundamental tools for financial literacy. We hope that our nation’s schools recognize the need for qualified educators who can effectively teach math and basic skill sets to students.

Each state was assigned a letter grade based on their performance on 92 policy and outcome measures and there was certainly no grade inflation. The states that received an A were Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington State, and Wyoming. On the other end of the spectrum, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina all flunked.

The report also revealed a few surprising trends. More than 37 percent of homeowners and 45 percent of renters spend over one-third of their income on housing. And since business equity is — after homeownership — the second-biggest factor in wealth building, CFED recommends implementing a New Entrepreneur Tax Credit for small-business owners with big ideas.

I especially like this last proposal. Starting a business is risky but it’s the American dream — and incentivizing people to go for it seems like a great way to spur the economy.

A CEEL survey conducted in December of 2008 found that a majority of those surveyed were unable to answer simple questions about borrowing, interest rates and even basic math. Our survey was referenced this week in the Triangle Business Journal in North Carolina, the Baltimore-Washington Corridor Business Magazine, and on the MSN.com Money Blog as widespread media coverage of the economy and of tighter regulation on the financial industry continues.

While some may be unknowingly hit by overdraft fees and increases in bank and credit card rates, a majority of consumers can prevent unnecessary charges from their financial institution by taking the time to read the fine print, assess their financial options, and keep within a budget.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/4428480[/vimeo]

The poll respondents did a little better, if only because they were offered 5 choices.  21% got the question right. The answers were distributed in a manner that is about equal to what you’d expect from random guessing.  Until Americans improve their financial education, the public won’t be able to comprehend these enormous budget issues that have so much impact on their lives.

Full results here

• One Thousand Times- 18%
• Ten Thousand Times- 12%
• One Hundred Thousand Times- 21%
• One Million Times- 21%
• Ten Million Times- 17%
• Don’t Know- 12%

Check out our new video: We went out in front of the White House and asked people a simple question, “How many millions are in a trillion?”

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/4428480[/vimeo]

This report presents the findings of a telephone survey conducted among a national probability sample of 1,001 adults comprising 501 men and 500 women 18 years of age and older, living in private households in the continental United States.  Interviewing for this CARAVAN® Survey was completed during the period April 23-26, 2009.

Highlights from the survey of adult Americans:

• 64% know someone who has lost their job in the past six months
• 40% have begun saving more because of concerns about the economy.
• 76% expect the recession to last for at least another year.
• 64% have less than six months of savings in case they lose their job. 39% have two months or less.
• 19% have experienced trouble accessing credit in the past six months.

83% of survey respondents said they expected a tax refund this year.  31% were planning on spending the refund, 29% expected to put it into savings and 18% said they would use it to pay off existing credit card debt.

You can see the full survey and results at www.Econ4U.org/survey_results.cfm

This report presents the findings of a telephone survey conducted among a national probability sample of 1,002 adults comprising 500 men and 502 women 18 years of age and older, living in private households in the continental United States.  Interviewing for this survey was completed during the period March 20-23, 2009.  The results have a margin of error of +/- 3%.

When you consider that the nightly news uses the Dow as a representation for the strength/weakness of the economy (despite the indicators flaws, but that is a topic for another post) it is shocking that most Americans couldn’t identify it out of a list of four choices. 1 in 10 survey participants thought the Dow averaged the price of commodities like gold and sugar!

Here are the quick hit results from the survey. Click here if you want to see the full roster of questions and results.

• 53% of respondents did not know what the Dow Jones Industrial Average was.
• 52% could not describe the advantages of a Roth IRA
• 43% did not know that their FICO score is the most important factor in getting a loan.
• 76% did not know that when in need of short-term emergency cash, bouncing a check costs more than wire transfers and short-term payday loans.
• 71% of people severely underestimated the amount of time it would take to pay off a credit card balance only making the minimum payments.