Slackonomics: Our Part in Rehauling the economy as we know it

Just read the introduction for the book Slackonomics: Generation X in the Age of Creative Destruction by New York Times contributor Lisa Chamberlain (I think the snappy description under the subtitle sums up the premise nicely: “How financial insecurity and technological innovation changed everyday life for a generation poised to take the reins from boomers – and not a moment too soon.”

I guess I should say that I’m a Gen Y person by definition, but I’m excited to finish this one. So far what I like about it is that it really seems to be just an anthropological look at a unique era, the specific cultural experience that we’ve had. I really like that Chamberlain doesn’t try to compare our generation to another and make some argument about how we’ve missed a lesson somewhere, financially. Her point is that in some ways, these economic times were almost inevitable and unavoidable – but this creative destruction we’ve experienced and are experiencing is likely to uproot a lot of the old definitions and economic modes, and spit us out into a totally different realm – for better or worse.

For instance – take social security (note: this is my own example, not Chamberlain’s). Scottrade Investing just completed a survey that noted that although 87% of Gen X’ers believe they deserve social security benefits from the government, most aren’t counting on actually getting any benefits. Other highlights from the survey:

43% believe they won’t be able to retire fully
26% aren’t sure they’ll ever be able to leave the workforce
37% predict they’ll need $1 million to retire
40% haven’t hit the $25 thousand mark yet
40% are saving more as a result of their insecurity over social security

I think those stats exemplify Chamberlain’s definition of creative destruction – because of all of the financial insecurity (first four bullets), Generation X will be forced to create a new economic reality for themselves (last bullet). Right now, they are just saving more, but will there be a reinvention of how we save for retirement, or protest that results in genuine change to the entire social security infrastructure.

Otherwise, I’m reading Jane Eyre at night before bed. I used to have a tradition of reading one l-o-n-g classic every summer (back when I got summer breaks), and I’m trying to carry that over now. What’s your favorite classic?