Bernanke: Minorities Need To 'Strengthen Their Financial Literacy'

American minorities need to "strengthen their financial literacy," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told students and faculty at Atlanta's historically black Morehouse College in Atlanta today.

On a day when President Obama delivered an Economic Crisis 101 lecture to students and faculty at Georgetown University, Bernanke was doing the same thing in Atlanta.

During an expansive Q-and-A session with Morehouse students after his speech, Bernanke was asked about the household wealth gap between whites and blacks in America.

"It’s absolutely right the difference between minority and white wealth is very significant, and part of that is related to income levels where whites have a higher average income," Bernanke said. "But even if you control for income level, you find minorities have gathered less wealth."

Part of the cause, Bernanke said, is a lack of "financial education."

"There needs to be a broader understanding in minority communities, which haven't had that much exposure, about saving and building a credit record and being part of the mainstream economy," Bernanke said.

Too many minorities don't have bank accounts, he said, and "borrow from payday lenders and cash checks at check-cashing services," he said, both of which charge high rates for their services.

"They would be better off in the mainstream banking system," Bernanke said. "So one thing that could help would be to try to strengthen the financial literacy and financial education" of U.S. minorities.

Bernanke also said that "it's an absolute tragedy" that some Morehouse students have been forced to drop out of school because they can no longer afford tuition, thanks to the ongoing recession.

Bernanke was asked if the economic crisis has caused him to change his economic philosophy.

"That's about the toughest question you could have asked," Bernanke said. "I would say the jury's still out on that."

-- Frank Ahrens

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