The Fed has kid’s comic books where aliens teach them about interest rates? Am I reading that right?

Every parent of an elementary school kid knows this routine: your kid comes home and you ask them what they learned.

It’s either “I don’t know” or some BS like animals, or history, or how to spell.

Rage courses through your veins. What are your tax dollars paying for?!

Well, lucky for you, the Federal Reserve is listening to angry parents, and has begun teaching your kids what you really want them to know: monetary policy!

You know, the economy, rates, and loans. Stuff they can use, right?

Maybe.

The Fed has used even more of your tax dollars to make a series of comic books where aliens teach kids about how a central bank works.

The audacity of creating a comic book explaining unemployment, inflation, and GDP to children is so ridiculous you have to experience it for yourself. Within the first two pages, a woman in an ice cream cone costume is telling a living marshmallow how grateful she is for the local central bank:

There are some good jokes scattered throughout, and the art style will definitely keep kids entertained, but the text doesn’t really attempt to speak to kids on their level. Check out this definition of GDP:

It’s literally just the dictionary definition. That doesn’t really help kids learn, does it?

At the same time, it’s pretty cool that the Fed is trying to help kids learn about all this stuff. Financial literacy is super important, and we barely get any of it in schools.

If these comics were an introduction to a complete financial education curriculum, we could set kids up for financial responsibility. Yeah, maybe these comics are a little dry, but they’re a start.

I’m giving Julian a homework assignment to show these comics to his 10-year-old, so stay tuned as we get first-hand user group feedback.

Anyways, check them out for yourself. You can read the comics for free online below. Your tax dollars are hard at work!
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Reference:

– The Story of the Federal Reserve System (NY Fed)

– Why Financial Literacy Is So Elusive (Bloomberg)