It’s the crisis no one is talking about. We see the signs, but we spend all of our time talking about the symptoms instead of the disease:

• We hate saving for a rainy day – or even a sunny one. The average U.S. household saves about 5.9 percent of their income, lower than the 60-year average, which hovered close to 8.3 percent. It’s also nearly a third of the country’s high of 17 percent back in 1975.

• We still love debt. Total American household debt ticked up to more than $12.5 trillion at the end of last year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That’s an increase of $460 billion for the year – the largest in nearly 10 years and perilously close to pre-recession levels.

• We’re not ready to retire. While the median working couple has saved only about $5,000 for retirement, only one in three families has saved anything at all.

We read stories about all of these alarming statistics – and more – almost every day, but we rarely hear anyone talk about the underlying problem: a startling lack of employee understanding of the most basic economic principles.

Related: What larger 401(k) sponsors are doing to help employees

Whether it’s calculating compound interest, defining diversification or explaining revolving credit, Americans are woefully behind the curve when it comes to basic financial concepts. A recent global survey ranked the United States a middling 14th in the world in financial literacy, with 57 percent passing a basic proficiency test.