April 25, 2007

4:10 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: April is Financial Literacy Month, and so I've asked some of our nation's most caring citizens to come and talk to us about how to develop and hone a strategy that will help more of our American citizens become financially literate¹. If you're not sure how interest works, it's hard to be a good homeowner. If you don't understand rates of return, it's hard to be a good investor². If you're not sure how money works, it will be missed opportunity for people from all walks of life.

Treasury³ Henry Paulson, left, to develop and hone a strategy that will help more of our American citizens to become financially literate.John Bryant, president and CEO of Operation Hope, is seen at right. White House photo by Eric Draper" src="/upimg/allimg/20070428/1112580.jpg" width="255" align="right" border="0" /> It is in this country's interest that people in every neighborhood, from every background, understand the financial literacy world; understand what it means when people talks terms related to their money. The more financially literate our society is, the more hopeful our society becomes.

Ours is a great system. It is a system that means somebody can come to America or live in America with nothing and end up with a lot; a system where people can realize dreams and work hard and realize those dreams. But unless we have a financially literate society, not enough people are going to be able realize the great promise of America.

And so I want to thank the Secretary of Treasury, and the Secretary of Education, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for agreeing to be a part of the committee to make sure the federal effort toward financial literacy is well coordinated⁴ with the private sector⁵. And I thank those from the private sector for joining us. We've got people from corporate⁶ America, we've got people from faith-based America, we've got people from community-based-program America, we've got people from all walks of life, all around the country, who are deeply concerned about making sure this country is as financially literate as possible, and I thank you for coming. I appreciate you joining us. Mr. Secretary, thanks for chairing the project.

God bless.

END 4:13 P.M. EDT