"competence" on its own does not exist. Congress has shown time and again that they are competent investors (it helps to not be bound by insider trading rules, and to be exposed to non-public info, and actually vote on the results of your investment). They are also competent with their money - 50% of them are millionaires.

> understanding alone is, obviously, not enough to fix the problems here.

Which problem? Are you implying that elected politicians are trying to fix things for the average citizen? if so, why do you think that?