In addition to today’s cover story on animal rights, there was a good article in today’s Times about the soured relationship between marketers and folks like myself in Generation X. I can’t find the link to the article (probably because I’m a dumb Gen X guy, thus proving the marketers right). But the author shows that companies like Chrysler are betting the farm on Boomers who are going to have all the money for the next 20 years until they can pass their money to Gen Y, who will essentially rule Gen X for 20 years following that.
I’ve always this and it always sounds like sour grapes: Generation X folks got screwed. We grew up in the scary, nuclear 80s, had the misfortune of knowing AIDS, went jobless for many months or years thanks to the boomers on Wall Street and then in Silicon Valley, and was paid far lower than most professional newcomers because of our so-called “bad attitude,” which really is one of independent thinking and fortitude. Neither of these will be rewarded by Chrysler and their friends.
But let’s think about this: Where were the leaders in the last election from Gen X? What corporate, cultural, or spiritual leaders do you know of that are in Gen X? According to the article, the market has systematically denied our existence since we are demographically a blip between the bloops of history. Is it possible that the political and social system, as porous and complex as it is, has done so as well?