The final big complaint of millennials is that they suffered disproportionately from the Great Recession, and are inheriting an economy marked by slow growth and excessive inequality. They blame Boomers for this. Are they right?
This story is extremely complicated. As to slow growth, that is attributable to a wide range of factors, including demographic change, the end of the Cold War and the rise of China, international trade policy, a mysterious slowdown in innovation, and new technology, particularly in transportation and communications. These phenomena can be found throughout the world, and cannot be pinned on a single generation, much less a single cohort of Americans.
Inequality is a bit of a different story. It is fair to blame some of the GOP’s affection for regressive tax cuts and deregulation on Boomer libertarianism. On the other hand, Reagan and Thatcher were not Boomers, and my generation was hardly united behind the Reagan, Bush, and Trump tax cuts. I certainly didn’t support them, and I don’t think I should be blamed for them.
My verdict is mixed, but mostly not guilty. If Gen Z wants to improve our growth figures, they need to invent something more useful than social media.