“The economy” is a pretty big phrase that most of us hear probably every day. Kids my age have grown up hearing all about it. Through the recession in 2008 and subsequent election years, the economy is always a big topic of interest. But what is the economy? To me the economy is just an umbrella term. Often as kids we were taught it’s anything that has to do with money. Using this logic then almost every single part of our lives are about the economy. Where we sleep, what we eat, jobs, school, all of these are affected by money. Furthermore, money affects our political and social lives as well. “During periods of economic chaos people turn towards political extremes” that’s a quote from my favorite history teacher in high school but I’ll never forget it because it’s so true. Economic chaos causes a ruckus in day to day lives which causes the need for change and stability so people vote more radically so that the government can get things done. 

My peers have grown up seeing ‘the economy’ as a huge thing that no one wants to talk about. Just too young to be millennials and too old to be generation Z, my 96-02 kids on the cusp of all this have grown up hearing economy and avoiding the conversation. The weird economy brings up money which of course is conversational taboo so we can’t walk about that. It also inevitably brings up politics as well and none of us want to talk about that either so we keep our opinions to ourselves. In my own experience this is how the people my age have operated. Avoiding the subjects so that no one gets in fights about point of view as we have watched the baby boomers and millennials do for a lot of our lives. 

I decided to test my theory out and actually ask some people my age about the economy. I didn’t have any specific questions I wanted to ask I just wanted to broach the subject. Just the word economy tripped them up, just as I thought. I was hit with the “oh don’t ask me about that I don’t know anything and I’m not going to be able to help you” as well as another “oh geez.” Both of the people who responded this way are very well educated college students both with close to 4.0 GPAs from high school and 1st semester. For my first friend the economy was just seen as such a huge thing that for her to talk about it was daunting. She felt that she doesn’t know enough to have a real conversation about it. For my “oh geez” friend the economy was more of an avoided topic because of the inevitable things that come up during the conversation. He would rather avoid mentally stimulating conversations that have the potential to bring up delicate topics like political opinions rather than try and talk about them at all. 

The economy has become such a huge daunting thing that no young people even talk about it anymore. Being in college, I feel like I should know way more than I do about the economic status of our country. I used to think I do but after being told to write about it the only things I know are weird pieces of possibly true information I’ve only heard from other people or instagram. I haven’t don’t any research, the only thing I know about the stock market is how corona has really thrown that for a ride. I feel that as a 19 year old person in college learning for the job I may have for the rest of my life, I should probably also be learning about the economic status of that job. I suddenly find it baffling and scary how little we know about the economic status of the country. If we can’t even talk about the word economy before immediately avoiding it, how are we supposed to prepare to earn money in jobs for the future?