Posted on 08/27/2011 11:23:57 AM PDT by Libloather
Study: 80 Percent of Lawmakers Lack Academic Background in Business, Economics
FoxNews.com
Published August 25, 2011
Congress might want to find some consultants as it tries anew to tackle the country's deep deficits. A report from the Employment Policies Institute finds that only one in five members of Congress has an academic background in business or economics.
The organization looked at lawmakers' college degrees and found that most of them -- 55.5 percent -- majored in either a government-related field or "humanities." Just over 8 percent majored in economics, while almost 14 percent studied business or accounting.
The numbers raise questions about their ability to tackle tough economic challenges when they return from break early next month. The Obama administration, as well as lawmakers touring their districts, are clamoring for a new approach to the jobs crisis. Meanwhile, a congressional "supercommittee" is set to get to work finding $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade.
But that supercommittee may have the same education deficit as the rest of Congress. Just four of the 12 members on that committee have an academic background in economics or finance -- Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich.; Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.; and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.
Others earned professional experience in the field. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., was an investment banker. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, was a lawyer who ran his own practice before being appointed U.S. trade representative and later becoming head of the White House budget office under the George W. Bush administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’m most worried about the ones who do have the degrees in economics.
Ya think? Even the illustrious “dear reader” is lacking in er...everything, including common sense.
“Study: 80 Percent of Lawmakers Lack Academic Background in Business, Economics (DUH!)”
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More than that...like they say down south, they don’t got a lick of sense...
He is qualified as a street thug, Chicago style.
NOTHING substitutes experience on a resume!
75% never heard of Adam Smith.
“Congress might want to find some consultants as it tries anew to tackle the country’s deep deficits.”
Couldn’t they just read “The Road to Serfdom” and “Human Action” instead?
“Couldn’t they just read ‘The Road to Serfdom’ and ‘Human Action’ instead?”
No, wait, instead of “instead” let me say “at least.”
“I’m most worried about the ones who do have the degrees in economics.”
Yeah, Bernanke’s an actual economist, and what has that benefited us?
“I’m most worried about the ones who do have the degrees in economics.”
Yeah, Bernanke’s an actual economist, and what has that benefited us?
Really? How about those Ivy League “ejucated” elitists from Harvard and Yale who dot the Obama administration..whose only solution is to raise taxes.
Brilliant.
They had this as a topic on KLBJ in Austin this week, and some woman called in and said that every person in congress should have to take a test.
They would have to show that they have balanced their personal checkbooks to the penny for the past 24 months. I’ll admit I agree with her.
And if more of them had academic backgrounds in business and economics would that be a good thing? Lots of the “wizards of smart” that created the financial meltdown had MBAs, and Krugman not only has a Ph.D. in economics, but a Nobel Prize in the area.
Maybe the problem is the 20% who do, not the 80% who don’t. (Remember this article isn’t about business experience, but about academic degree areas.)
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