> Unless you're poor, self control and financial literacy pretty much take care of almost everything you mentioned. You are correct! However, personal responsi

> Unless you're poor, self control and financial literacy pretty much take care of almost everything you mentioned. You are correct! However, personal responsibility and accountability are a distraction from the real problem, which is a culture of profound ignorance. If someone has zero instruction in financial literacy and no training in self-control then is it a surprise that they don't practice either? Trying to apply personal responsibility and accountability to a person who is completely ignorant for cultural and educational reasons is absurd. If a person doesn't even know what a budget IS then is it a surprise they max out their credit card? If a person is taught only compliance throughout school and their childhood then is it a surprise they have no sense of self-control? Most of the people I know are in a sort of endless anxiety cycle about their finances with no understanding of why their finances are such a mess. Applying responsibility and self-control to someone who is ignorant of even the most basic aspects of being an adult is ridiculous. This is like yelling at a puppy who pees on the rug who doesn't even know that they can go in the backyard instead. They just learn to resent you and the system who holds them accountable for something they don't understand. At best they just learn to comply with everything people in authority tell them to do and hope for the best, accepting that every so often they will get yelled at for an unknowable violation.