Just wonderful - professionalism at work

From Carpe Diem comes this little tidbit of interesting knowledge. When you are thinking about how Congress is writing the bail-out bill, realize that very few of its members have any training in economics. From Mark:

80% of Congress Has No Background in Economics
As Congress works on one of the most important pieces of economic legislation in a generation, a Washington research group has pointed out that more than 8 in 10 members of Congress don�t have a formal educational background in the business, economics, or finance fields.

The research by the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy, which aims to educate the general public about finance issues, showed that about 14% have degrees in economics-related fields and just 6.7% specifically have an economics degree. More than 30% of members have degrees in politics and government, while 18% majored in humanities.

�It�s interesting that those who are responsible for solving the biggest economic crisis in generations don�t have the educational background to know the difference between commercial paper and copy machine paper,� said James Bowers, managing director of CEEL.

Granted, Congress has to make decisions about a lot of things for which they are not expected to be expert but still, it would be good of them to call in a panel of economists for a couple hours of Q&A before setting anything down to paper. This bill is going to have a huge 'ripple' effect for years to come...