I can’t help but get a little uneasy when I research and find such troublesome information on the current state of the U.S. economy. In November, we saw the government agree to raise the debt ceiling, because it’s what they do and what they’ll always do until it just doesn’t work anymore. This, by all other measures, is a crisis, even though we, as citizens of a broken global financial system, have become numb to it in so many ways. Interestingly, though, in times of crisis, the U.S. has the ability to operate under emergency measures to fudge their numbers and “spend less” when they have to.

Prior to the debt ceiling being raised, this was exactly the case. But it’s not as if the money wasn’t going to be spent. Instead of it being accrued over a period of time, the accrual of an additional $674 billion was added to the debt in November alone! The yearly deficit has been roughly $500 billion, and in November, the debt grows by a number larger than our yearly deficit. Right now, under president Obama, the debt has grown 77% since he’s taken office and will likely be up 100% by the time he officially leaves.

Among many reasons, there’s no wonder kids these days are less optimistic of the “American Dream.” A recent poll was taken by Fusion, which replicated a poll that was taken three decades ago, and the results showed that young Americans who said the American Dream “is not really alive” grew sharply overall from 12% in 1986 to 29% in 2015. Poking fun, Zero Hedge points out that if we wait long enough, the Bernanke QE “wealth effect” might eventually trickle down.

I read a statistic yesterday that showed birthrates of children these days, with parents in their 20s dramatically falling. The article was partially trying to show that abortion is contributing to this, but not only that, so is the dire situation of the economy. According to the CDC, the U.S. birth rate is hovering right at an all-time low. Millennials can’t afford to live their lives!

We hear a lot about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer because the rich own the assets that the government is inflating, which the poorer individuals can’t afford to buy. This could easily be categorized by age, with the baby boomers owning the majority of the assets and the millennials owning nothing.

Statistically, things are harder and worse than before. My intention for sitting down today and writing this article is to say that you don’t need to be part of a statistic. Being average is getting a C in school. Just because that was average didn’t mean you couldn’t have been the one to get an A. It might be harder these days to achieve your goals, but if you really dig down, you can — and will — defy the statistics. Sometimes what you need in your life is a game-changer, and those happen periodically when you set yourself up for it.

I wanted to include an excerpt written by Nicholas Green, of FMT Advisory. While there is a great deal of talk about of volatility, fear, and negativity, he is encouraging his clients to embrace it, and to ultimately thrive in it.

“There are a lot of problems here and around the world that make FMT Advisory ecstatic. While we naturally hope the best for all of humanity, as investors, we know that you don’t get great prices with a cheery consensus. So when there is a huge negative feedback loop in various investment areas, we find it exhilarating, frankly.”

“We can only build a collection of stellar assets with serious rocket fuel behind them when they are available at substantial discounts to our conservative estimates of intrinsic value, which is what provides the energy our portfolio empires need over time.  In other words, it is hard to find value and add wonderful pieces to our portfolio empires without fear and negativity. To that end, we embrace volatility, fear, and negativity, while we loathe optimism and excitement in markets.”

To get more information on Nicholas Green, visit FMTAdvisory.com.