I think that pbone is right in a sense that people should be aware of what a variable interest rate is, however I think he is wrong in regards to everybody knowing the ins and outs of home financing. If you watch Maxed Out, you will see where people went into areas where people had no more than 8th/9th grade educations and convinced them that the loan/credit terms were good for them.
Take payday loans. I have no problem with them existing, however I have an issue with some states allowing them to have almost uncapped interest rates where some have interest rates at 45-60%!. 25%? Reasonable since it's usually bad credit people coming in and on a $100 loan it's $125 to pay back. In WA for example people with bad credit can get a car loan but it's capped at like ~27% (this of course makes that $9,000 car like $13,000), could you imagine if it was 60% just to have reliable transportation*?
*This assumes credit mistakes in the past and a current history of paying things back on time. Not loaning money to someone who hasn't paid their credit card on time and is late every month for the last 6 years.