Yesterday, I talked about how GenZ investors see sports gambling as “their long-term financial strategy.” While that might seem irrational, they are making choices about how to provide for their future based upon some sobering economic facts. Let’s discuss a few of them.

Last month, the official percentage for inflation was higher than the percentage for wage growth. Put another way, prices rose faster than your paycheck. That wasn’t the exception but the rule. Since the 1970s when the U.S. went off the gold standard, prices of everything have risen faster than wages.

The national debt increased by $2.88 trillion last year. Someone calculated that works out to $91,549 every second. Put another way, the national debt just increased another $8 million in the time you listened to this commentary. I should also add that the national debt is about to exceed $40 trillion. 

To illustrate this to one of my guests on radio, I suggested we removed eight zeros from these numbers. The federal government brings in $5 trillion each year and spends $7 trillion during that same amount of time. Imagine if someone is making $50,000 and spending $70,000 each year. We would be concerned, especially if that person also had $400,000 in debt.

To finance this budgetary shortfall, the government must print enough money to cover the difference. More dollars dropped into the economy means it will take more dollars to buy assets, but it also means the dollars in your wallet or purse are worth less. That results in what is called a K-shaped economy. The stock market is at an all-time high, while most Americans struggle to makes ends meet.