Generation Zero Documentary
I caught Hannity over the weekend interviewing the guys who made the movie Generation Zero. It was compelling. They showed more clips than the short teaser below. I linked to the Hannity show at the very bottom. I think Generation Zero is worth seeing. One thing they pointed out is something I realized in my life time. Personal responsibility has gone out of big business. Once upon a time if a company made a bad investment and lost money the board of directors or CEO had to write out a check to cover the losses. Today, the shareholders bail out the board of directors and in recent times the government bails out the corporations. That is if the company is big enough.
The average small business, like mine, is my personal responsibility. If we make a bad decision, we or I as the CEO suffers the consequences. The old “buck stops here” is how it works for most of us. No wonder the large companies and Wall Street don’t sweat it. They support candidates that have the “nanny state” mentality. This is what lead to our recent economic crisis. It was 40 or 50 years of letting companies get so entangled in a “Global Economy” with no personal skin in the game.
Look at the recent companies that have been bailed out. Most of the old board members and CEO’s are still in charge of the biggest failures in history. Fifty years ago these guys would have not only lost their jobs they would have lost their shirts. Today the argument is that the failed decision makers are the only ones capable of correcting their own mistakes. I see a red bullsh#t flag going up every time I hear that excuse.
Here is one often cited example. Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of General Electric has overseen a drop in GE stock of nearly 60%. Yet, he is still the CEO and was even appointed by President Barack Obama to his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. See WikiPedia excerpt below. Just because GE is not in a financial crisis doesn’t mean they aren’t screwed up. I can’t imagine anyone keeping a person who allowed a 60% drop in stock price let alone asking him to advise me on anything.
“Immelt was named to Time magazine‘s 100 most influential people in the world in 2008.[5] He was also named one of the five worst Non-Financial-Crisis-Related CEOs of 2008 by the Free Enterprise Action Fund.[6] Since taking over, GE’s stock has dropped nearly 60%. In February 2009, Immelt was appointed as a member to the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the president and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America’s economic downturn.”
If you are to young to remember the old days of personal responsibility or just never paid attention I highly recommend that you check out this and other clips of Generation Zero.
Hi GTF800,
I tried watching the first video. It took a long time to load. I glanced over the other information on the page but nothing stood out. Is there a point of real distinction between these groups? As a person born in 1958 I suppose I’m part of this Generation Jones. I grew up watching the Vietnam War on TV, watched my brother burn his draft card and burn himself out on amphetamines, lost a good portion of my friends to drug overdose and the list goes on. It turns out I joined the military voluntarily, spent 22 years, 8 months and 9 days serving our great country. Learned about computers while writing the first Air Force manual in html. Decided I would open a web company when I retired in 2002. I’m not sure what all this means, it’s just a brief on my experience as a Gen Joneser.
I suppose I don’t notice much difference between my older brother’s generation (a boomer by this definition) and mine (Gen Jones by this definition). It could be because I spent most of my life in a structured and mostly conservative environment and came to accept Jesus as my savior at age 29. I did not spend much time associating with civilians so my experience could be quite skewed.
Put it in a nutshell for me if you have the time. What is the real cutting edge difference between Boomers and Jonesers?
Interesting post, Mike. To understand the arguments put forth by the “Generation Zero” documentary, it is crucial to distinguish between the actual Baby Boom Generation (born 1942-1954) vs. Generation Jones (1954-1965). GenJones was originally lumped in with the Boomers, but is now generally seen by experts as a separate generation. Understanding the differences between these two generations is central to comprehending this documentary.
The post-WWII demographic boom in births is one thing, the cultural generations born during that era is another. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. And most analysts now see generations as getting shorter (usually 10-15 years now), partly because of the acceleration of culture. Many experts now believe it breaks down more or less this way:
DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Generation Y/Millennials: 1979-1993
Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten lots of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) now specifically use this term. In fact, the Associated Press’ annual Trend Report chose the Rise of Generation Jones as the #1 trend of 2009. Here’s a page with a good overview of recent media interest in GenJones: http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html