Carol Roth

supposed to be having things like a smartphone that has a computer, you know, basically in your pocket, a supercomputer in your pocket and nice shoes and access to, you know, an abundance of choices.

That's supposed to be luxuries.

That's supposed to make you feel like you don't have to worry about money.

But the necessities of our life have become so expensive that

that if you are in the middle and working class, that you are very likely on that downward slope of the K. You're having a very different experience.

Yeah, I think everybody knows what a K-shaped economy is.

They just may not know the term for it, but they're definitely living through it.

And if you think about the letter K, right, you've got this divergence.

You know, one part of the K is going up and to the right.

The other one is sloping down.

And so it depends on who you are.

That's sort of your economic experience.

If you are an asset holder and you have a portfolio and you have a house, you've got a high-paying job, you've actually done very well over the last several years.

We keep seeing that inflation and assets taking hold.

And so

at least on a nominal basis, not adjusted for inflation, but just the number that you see in front of you, it appears like things are going very, very well.

If you are somebody who is not an asset holder or maybe just has a small amount of assets, but primarily you're dealing with the day-to-day cost of living, you're dealing with rent and mortgage, you're dealing with maybe the cost of education, food, travel, whatever else,

You're having a very different experience in this economy.

Things are not going well.

They're just seeming more expensive to you and you're not participating in the inflation of assets piece to offset your feelings about that.