Gen Z's 'Official' Years: What We're *Supposed* to Believe About Their Range, Plus Millennials & Gen X
Gen Z's "Okay, Boomer" Moment Is Coming for Emerging Markets
The Kids Are (Probably) Not Alright
So, emerging markets debt investors are sweating Gen Z? Let’s be real, investors are always sweating something. Volatile elections, inflation, that weird rash they got on vacation... Now it's the zoomers, and offcourse, their TikTok-fueled uprisings.
The article says these kids grew up in a "turbulent era." Trump, Brexit, COVID... yeah, well, welcome to the freaking club. Every generation thinks their problems are the worst. Newsflash: history is just a long string of dumpster fires, each one slightly different than the last.
But here's the thing that actually matters: these Gen Z protests are harder to predict and put down because they're born on social media and don't have a "political figurehead." Translation: they can't be bought off or controlled by the usual suspects. That's what really scares the suits on Wall Street. They can handle a good old-fashioned coup, but a bunch of meme-slinging teenagers? That's a whole different ballgame.
When "OK Boomer" Becomes a National Crisis
Cameroon is the poster child here. 92-year-old president clinging to power since before most of Gen Z's parents were born. I mean, come on! Is it any wonder they're rioting? It's like watching a museum exhibit try to run a country. The article points out the median age there was 19 in 2024. Nineteen! You've got a country run by geriatrics while the actual population is still trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives.
And it ain't just Cameroon. The piece mentions Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Romania, Poland, and Hungary as potential tinderboxes. Fiscal pressure, corruption, "ageing political elites"... it's the same damn story everywhere. Tax rises and austerity measures? Good luck selling that to a generation that's already drowning in debt and climate anxiety.
Then again, maybe I'm the crazy one here. Maybe these Gen Z kids are just a bunch of entitled snowflakes who need to get a job and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. But let's be real, those bootstraps probably cost more than their rent.
I read another article about how each generation fears death. Boomers fear decline, Gen X fears leaving a mess, Millennials fear unlived potential, and Gen Z? Gen Z fears how they'll die. I asked Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z their biggest fear about dying. The answers reveal everything School shootings, climate disasters, police violence... they've seen it all on their phones, and they're not wrong to be terrified.
The rich get to die peacefully in their beds, but the rest of us? We get to die in debt or in some mass casualty event. It ain't fair, but when has life ever been fair?
The Investor's Nightmare: Spontaneity
"Investors crave certainty," the article says. Well, duh. But emerging markets are entering an era of "spontaneous, unpredictable political and social disruption." Translation: chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos.
And that, my friends, is a bond buyer's worst nightmare. Forget your spreadsheets and your risk assessments. You can't quantify a TikTok trend. You can't predict when a meme is going to spark a revolution. Gen Z is going to test investors' mettle further