Right now X is blowing up with leftists saying Mamdani has “fixed” the budget. It’s of course because he took a massive 8 billion loan from the state, then kicked the can on the NYC pensions so the debt from those over doubles by next (with interest). The problem with this argument is 80% of America doesn’t care, they are functionally economically illiterate, and ~40% have no concept of time other than the next 10 seconds.
Trying to tell leftists about a budget is like trying to explain refrigeration to South Asians. The overwhelming majority won’t understand it, the few that can don’t want the rest to understand it because they’re running a con off it.
There are really only 2 ways. Parents are ultimately the best way to teach it, school is a lost cause, so the other are those that learn it the hard way or via trial and error.
People are also going to have to reconcile with the reality that over half the country will never actually be able to understand economics. You can ingrain saving, balancing accounts, etc. however you can’t force someone to understand why, most people don’t understand risk nor are they capable of understanding anything above basic arithmetic anymore.
The trouble is that trial and error doesn't teach you that assets = liabilities + equity, and you won't know to look for that unless you start studying accounting.
Also, things like minimum payments on credit cards enable some very large errors before average people realize something is going wrong, and it can take a lot to course correct.