I think the biggest failure is not having economics and finance classes be part of core curriculum. The amount of confusion and misunderstanding from forcing people to personally figure out the system is totally crazy.

While this is a common refrain, I think we should also live in a society where governance isn't so bad that you have to educate yourself to avoid the rampant scams in literally every aspect of life. What good is a government that doesn't care for it's most vulnerable citizens.