OK Boomer, Let's Talk

How My Generation Got Left Behind

By: Jill Filipovic

Narrated by: Emily Tremaine

Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Particularly relevant in an election year... This book is full of data - on the economy, technology, and more - that will help millennials articulate their generational rage and help boomers understand where they’re coming from.” (The Washington Post)

“Jill Filipovic cuts through the noise with characteristic clarity and nuance. Behind the meme is a thoughtfully reported book that greatly contributes to our understanding of generational change.” (Irin Carmon, coauthor of the New York Times best seller Notorious RBG)

Baby Boomers are the most prosperous generation in American history, but their kids are screwed. In this eye-opening book, journalist Jill Filipovic breaks down the massive problems facing Millennials, including climate, money, housing, and healthcare.

In OK Boomer, Let’s Talk, journalist (and Millennial) Jill Filipovic tells the definitive story of her generation. Talking to gig workers, economists, policy makers, and dozens of struggling Millennials drowning in debt on a planet quite literally in flames, Filipovic paints a shocking and nuanced portrait of a generation being left behind: 

• Millennials are the most educated generation in American history - and also the most broke.
• Millennials hold just three percent of American wealth. When they were the same age, Boomers held 21 percent. 
• The average older Millennial has $15,000 in student loan debt. The average Boomer at the same age? Just $2,300 in today’s dollars. 
• Millennials are paying almost 40 percent more for their first homes than Boomers did. 
• American families spend twice as much on healthcare now than they did when Boomers were young parents.

Filipovic shows that Millennials are not the avocado-toast-eating snowflakes of Boomer outrage fantasies. But they are the first American generation that will do worse than their parents. “OK, Boomer” isn’t just a sarcastic dismissal - it’s a recognition that Millennials are in crisis, and that Boomer voters, bankers, and policy makers are responsible. Filipovic goes beyond the meme, upending dated assumptions with revelatory data and revealing portraits of young people delaying adulthood to pay down debt, obsessed with “wellness” because they can’t afford real healthcare, and struggling to #hustle in the precarious gig economy. 

OK Boomer, Let’s Talk is at once an explainer and an extended olive branch that will finally allow these two generations to truly understand each other.

©2020 Jill Filipovic. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Millennial Attorney Leadership

It was such a pleasure hearing Jill Filipovic's analysis. I am a millennial attorney. Part of why I chose this career is because I wanted to help fix a broken legal system. Something that I have always wondered is how Boomer-lawyers could be so silent, and suffer from such a profound lack of moral consciousness. In almost every conversation I have with a client at my public interest firm, I have to preface my legal advice with a disclaimer: "I am telling you the way the laws work. I want you to understand that I am not condoning these laws, or promoting them as fair. I recognize that these laws are BS." I am exhausted from having to say that.

What struck me in listening to the audio-recording is how brave and different Filipovic is as a young lawyer. This book finds a perfect balance between academic rigor, and clarity of communication. I just want to thank her for her outstanding leadership, and her dedication to a profession that has underserved the public for decades.

PS- For a sequel, I would love to see someone write about Boomers gifting millennials the obesity crisis, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving forcing the adoption of the 21+ drinking age.

Annoyed I spent a credit on it

I was excited to spend a credit on this because I thought it’d be a nice exploration of what made boomers and millennials so different based on their respective times and cultures. Instead it bemoans the bad luck of millennials and envies the way boomers had it so good, without any exploration into the context. I was expecting more objective investigative journalism, but this is a bunch of statistics stated in prose, and case studies, that makes me feel depressed instead of informed. The author states that boomers created the world that is so hard for us, but she doesn’t explain how or why. She also badmouths the attitudes of boomers when I had the impression she was going to provide a balanced comparison between the groups. If you want to feel justified in feeling sorry for yourself as a millennial, go ahead and download this book. :/ I’m going somewhere else for the full story.

Best examination of inter-generational dynamics

The author takes the reader on a deep and informative dive into the history of generational differences and offers a path forward together.

Meh, get a mirror

Millenials experiencing largest transfer of wealth in recorded history, theyre all on board with that! The planet is on fire, species are disappearing daily BUT that doesn't stop them from buying and accumulating meaningless branded crap, endlessly bitching about how they've been wronged. Talk to the hand.

last third is extreme liberal opinion which ruined

it was fine until it became a completely different book. it started pushing extreme liberal opinions and stopped stating facts. it became emotionally driven which kind of shut down the logical argument of the book.

Love it!

Loved it! Made great points and I hope more people read it! Thank you Jill!

THIS Baby Boomer learned a lot!

This is an important book. It was recommended to me by a millennial. As a Boomer, I have learned a lot by listening to this book. I highly recommended to my fellow boomers.

Boomers: your policies were secretly socialist

We as millennials are trying to find our way in a work where we can’t afford college, houses, or health insurance. This country, the most prosperous of all, continues to hold itself as the wealthiest and most educated in the world. Let us all be, without crushing debt for “the American dream” that was never actually true.

Excellent points Boomers need to read and reflect

First off I need to point out I’m a boomer born in 1951. First criticism;at times the author sounded like victim. Americans do not take victimhood well. Quit whining and do something like vote. You are the largest demographic voice use it or accept your fate. Secondly Boomers have and are dealing with adversity. Think the Vietnam war both as soldiers and families. Currently we are the sandwich generation dealing with our own problems and caring for the greatest generation who are dying very slowly kept alive by medical science sometimes cruelly. That being said I do agree we are a selfish generation wanting all the things that government can provide and not willing to pay for them. We don’t care about climate change because we don’t want the cost or inconvenience,besides we won’t be alive for the consequences. We allowed an unnecessary war and it’s cost (a trillion dollars) to go on and passed the cost to the next generation and took two tax cuts (Bush & Trump) in between. And just recently allowed a political party to take away our granddaughter’s rights over their own bodies. Needless to say I don’t think history will look upon us kindly. Hopefully millennials will get off their butts organize and vote. I for one will be voting with them.

Dead on!!!

I'm considering buying this book, highlighting the parts that are important to me, and sending it to my parents!!!
This book eloquently sums up so many thoughts I've had over the years!!!