More than 43 million adults in the United States can’t “read, write or do basic math above a 3rd grade level,” according to Literacy Texas. That could rob our national economy of as much as “$2.2 trillion a year.”Texas is next to last on a list that ranks illiteracy rates in the U.S. Illiteracy could rob Texas of enough money to support government agencies and the people of Texas.Do illiterate people have a low IQ ? Nope. “There is “little difference in measures of intelligence and the ability to learn.” There are 10 major reasons kids drop out of school.