Ok so let’s slice it up. 25% of the pop is, in your view, legitimately poor... lowest quintile. Which leaves 61-25 = 36% of the population of the US is just bad

Ok so let’s slice it up. 25% of the pop is, in your view, legitimately poor... lowest quintile. Which leaves 61-25 = 36% of the population of the US is just bad at money and it’s their own fault? I would be very hesitant to make an uncharitable assumption about that many millions of people - their situations are likely more complex than you or I understand. Best case scenario, you are right, and we are failing massive swaths of the population by not teaching good money management as part of the core education everybody receives. Either way, things are broken right now!