Rational Exuberance: The Influence of Generation X on the New American Economy - Hardcover

A lot of the arguments passionately advanced by Meredith Bagby in Rational Exuberance: The Influence of Generation X on the New American Economy, will infuriate (or at least baffle) those not born between the years 1965 and 1976. But that's beside the point. Bagby herself is a proud member of this maturing generation, and as an economist--as well as a regular on CNN's Financial News Network--she's developed strong opinions on the fiscal future of a population that reportedly believes more strongly in the current existence of UFOs than the long-term existence of Social Security. With the help of cutting-edge compatriots like pollster Kellyanne Fitzpatrick, presidential-speech writer Jeff Shesol, Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Frank, Cybergrrl marketing maven Aliza Sherman, and a host of other successful twentysomethings, Bagby looks into the political, social, educational, and occupational leanings of her peers with an eye toward the economic impacts that they're likely to have in coming years. Her insights into Gen-X thinking on employment and entrepreneurship, ads and the media that carry them, and consumer staples such as homes, cars, clothes, food, and drink, should prove intriguing whether you're on the inside or the outside of this up-and-coming generation. --Howard Rothman

Meredith Bagby appears regularly on CNN's Financial News Network and is the author of The Annual Report of the United States of America, a groundbreaking report on the "business" of the American economy. She is currently studying law in New York City.