Well, apparently Millennials are killing off tuna.
OK, more specifically, they are killing off canned tuna. Why? Because they are buying less of it than previous generations. The Wall Street Journal has reported that only 32 percent of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 bought canned fish or shellfish recently.
It seems like people in my age group are buying much more of the canned goodness – 45 percent.
And yes, when I say canned goodness I am being facetious. I am not a fan of tuna fish, or any other canned fish. Or fresh fish. Or frozen fish. Or just fish.
This, to me, seems to be just another thing to blame on Millennials, the generation born roughly in the 1980s and 1990s (some say a little later). Us Baby Boomers would have nothing to complain about if we didn’t have Millennials, with all of their feelings and desires for social justice and participation trophies and aversion to homeownership and cereal.
I shake my fist in your general direction, young person with a neatly trimmed beard wearing pajama bottoms at the liquor store, where you are stocking up on Pabst Blue Ribbon for some strange reason.
Why do you hate America?
Again, I am kidding. I do not buy into the current trend of blaming young people for killing off everything that makes America great. They want to eat less processed food? Good for them. They don’t want to shop for the 1,200-count toilet paper pallet at Costco? More power to them.
Really, I don’t care what the next generations wants to eat or do. They can make those decisions.
Well, some of them.
One hit they have taken is that they are accused of avoiding homeownership. In reality, I’m sure they would love to own homes, but the dollar just doesn’t have as much value as it used to, so they can’t afford it. They have student loans and three jobs just so they can afford to pay rent in the room they grew up in.
Sure, there are jobs in this economy, but the only people getting rich are, well, the rich. Others, especially young people coming into the job market, often have to work multiple jobs just to get by.
I am thankful that I am not a person in my 20s right now. I have two kids who are in this category, and homeownership isn’t even a thought for them right now. And, even though we have never had the conversation, I’m sure they don’t spend much time worrying about the future of canned tuna.
They have more important things to worry about, like the skyrocketing national debt. When you are going to have to find a way to pay back the trillions of dollars ($21 trillion and counting) your parents ran up in order to save the country from financial ruin, things like canned fish just don’t seem as important, do they?
Instead of blaming young people, maybe we should apologize to them for the debt, the deficit, global warming, the horrible state of affairs in our national politics, skyrocketing drug prices, polyester.
Yeah, we aren’t so great ourselves. So let’s just sit in front of our TVs, watching people on “news” shows scream at each other while we stuff our faces with canned tuna. These kids don’t know what they are missing!
