RASCAL REPORT
An eye on baby boomers since 2022
Youth is wasted on the young.
– George Bernard Shaw
For Gen Z, unemployment can be a blast
As a regular old, capitalist Boomer gal teaching bright and shiny young M.B.A. students, I sometimes find myself wondering if Generation Z is brilliant or bonkers. Burnout, self-care, boundaries—they need and want them all, sigh. But because I love my students, and they so often surprise me with their profound self-awareness, boundless creativity and poignant longing to save the planet, I usually delight in the discrepancies in our understanding of how the world works. It will all sort itself out in the end, I tell myself, when they bump into reality.
But my equanimity was recently tested for the first time in a while, with graduation looming and summer almost upon us, when my students started throwing around the term “funemployment.” As in, “I’ll work when I work, until then, I’ll just do some funemployment.”
"Oh, grow up.” I like to think that I took that advice
I don’t know what it is about human nature, but we all seem to think we live in the worst possible times, that our generation had it worse than any before us, and that it must be someone else’s fault. I remember belonging to this whining, self-pitying crowd in college. One day I opined that it was no surprise that our generation was so disillusioned and angry given what we had lived through — the Vietnam war, degradation of the environment, the assassination of one president and the resignation of another, just as starting examples.
A friend of mine who was listening looked me straight in the eye and said: "Oh, grow up."
Crunching numbers: Girl Scout cookies secret $800 million empire
Each year, from January through April, over a million girls participate in a unique tradition that has become a cornerstone of American culture: selling Girl Scout Cookies. Known for both its financial impact and its ability to teach young girls valuable life skills, the program generates $800 million in annual sales, selling more than 200 million boxes every year!
Do you become better at detecting BS as you age or just less forgiving?
I’m finally finding my voice and it feels pretty awesome. I seem to be coming across more bullshit than ever. Or am I just better at recognizing and calling it now I’ve reached my 50s and seem to have found my voice? I spent years hiding under the cloak of low self-esteem, always agreeing with everyone, never taking an opposing stance, and keeping my opinions hidden for fear they might upset someone or make them dislike me. Then I turned 50, and I felt a shift. I have become less agreeable to others’ actions and words if they feel inauthentic or clash with my morals and values.
The shift of baby boomers to the right has had a significant impact on American politics.
Baby boomers are older, more likely to be retired or nearing retirement, wealthier, and they are concerned about the economy. Baby boomers are more likely to be socially conservative than younger generations, more likely to oppose abortion and same-sex marriage, and they are more likely to be religious. These facts have made it more difficult for Democrats to win elections, which has made it more difficult for Democrats to pass their agenda.
Of course, not all baby boomers are Republicans. There are still lots of baby boomers who identify as Democrats, and lots of baby boomers who support liberal causes. However, the overall trend is that baby boomers are becoming more Republican. As the baby boomers are move right, they fuel the Republican party’s move further right.