Perusing the Financial Times this morning, I came across three important articles that seemed unrelated. On further reflection, however, I discovered a common thread. All three address future prospects for the Millennial and Z generations, even if two only indirectly. Jointly they suggest, in my analysis, that a Millennial-Z moment may be approaching.
Sarah O’Connor’s piece focuses on the economic insecurity faced by many in either the Millennial or Gen-Z cohorts. By itself there is nothing remarkable here, nor even new. But most of the subjects with whom the author speaks are, by most people’s standards, quite well off. A few are successful professionals suffering the “indignity” of paying rent in classy London neighborhoods.
These young families’ worries about their living expenses leaving little hope of bequeathing substantial wealth to their children appear genuine. But really, if these young people do not feel successful, what can we say about most other Millennial-Zs? Often it is what an article does not discuss that is most revealing.
In the same edition, Ruchir Sharma “exposes” the myth that the role of government in the economy has been shrinking for 40 years. Again, nothing really original here, at least if you follow economics somewhat closely.
But Sharma entirely ignores the fact that government largesse has, over these past four decades, gradually shifted to the plutocrats or so-called one percent. This neoliberal “trickle-up” redistribution has not only (obviously) hurt the poor. Prospects for the young have also diminished, not the least because of mounting debt.
The Millennial-Zs appear to have inherited a future of either debt austerity or inflation and instability. And the job landscape does not look any better, even for debt-laden college graduates. It is little wonder that today’s youth suffer from anxiety and depression with alarming and never-before-seen frequency.
Finally, Martin Sandbu presents an unbelievably sanguine account of humanity’s eventual move to “net zero” carbon. He accurately (in my view) describes some of the technological progress that has been made on renewables. But he apparently not only has no uncertainty about our eventual “victory in the climate fight,” he thinks the sacrifices required in said fight will be inconsequential!
Ok, perhaps I’m misrepresenting – but only slightly. Sandbu believes that it is a serious possibility that we will overcome climate change with our day-to-day lives intact. For him, all that matters is achieving net zero carbon; when (never mind if) we do appears a minor concern. He seems, in other words, entirely blind to the fact that climate change is already upon us.
Greta Thunberg, one of the more celebrated members of the Z generation, understands that climate change will not “wait” until we are ready to deal with. A serious contraction is inevitable – the only question is what form it will take. Because the young are, well, young, they will be more affected than earlier generations. And I do not mean just economically.
When I wrote earlier of a Millennial-Z moment, I was thinking of an occasion when the younger generations would rise up. The plutocratic elephant in the room is visible to many by now, notwithstanding efforts by our three Financial Times columnists to ignore it. Inequality, debt, and a climate calamity…no surprise, really, that the Millennial-Zs are depressed.
Their clamor for Bernie Sanders as early as 2016 was no aberration. Something tells me that it was the beginning of a sea change in which we continue, even if unwittingly, to float. That we are already, in other words, experiencing a Millennial-Z moment. It would only remain to be seen where it will carry us.