And I couldn't agree more.
People, not everyone needs to learn programming. Only some gifted individuals (of which we professional software developers are included) need to learn programming. For the rest of you, unless you are srsly committed it will just be a meaningless chore that may damage your tiny brains.
Coding is just like surgery: if an amateur decides to code their own Angry Birds clone as a fun little project, people will literally die. Those are the stakes, folks. That's why it should be left to those who are explicitly pursing it as a professional career.
You have my assurance that I find Bloomberg's encouragement of people to learn a technical skill personally offensive. It filled me with a rage that was only subdued after discouraging a small child from learning to play the harmonica. (What's the kid going to do with that skill anyway? There are better ways he could spend his valuable time.)