Episode Details

This week we talk about Jimmy Buffett, Boomers, and the Soviet Union.

We also discuss Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, and the 2024 US Presidential Election.

Show Notes

(Notes on show notes: for Wikipedia or other reference articles, please follow source links as they tend to tell you which bits of data are legit and which are less so—these are excellent starting points for info, but ideally not the end-points.)

Some Relevant Links

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/health/mitch-mcconnell-health-seizures.html

https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy

https://theintercept.com/2023/07/27/gerontocracy-google-mcconnell-feinstein/

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/01/30/house-gets-younger-senate-gets-older-a-look-at-the-age-and-generation-of-lawmakers-in-the-118th-congress/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_age

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/dianne-feinstein-went-hospital-minor-fall-home-spokesperson-says-rcna98992

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1194115265/sen-mitch-mcconnells-health-issues-spotlights-kentuckys-succession-process

https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/raising-social-securitys-retirement-age-would-cut-benefits-for-all-new

https://www.census.gov/popclock/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerontocracy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/jimmy-buffett-margaritaville-singer-and-beach-themed-businessman-dies-26e63495

Endmatter

The Let’s Know Things Patreon page

Recommended book: Secondhand by Adam Minter

My other projects: Understandary

LKT on Apple Podcasts & Spotify (consider leaving a review if you’re enjoying the show)

Transcript

Jimmy Buffett, the singer behind megahits like Margaritaville and A Pirate Looks at Forty, died at age 76 the first weekend of September 2023.His songs celebrated a particular flavor of aspirational lifestyle, defined by beaches and casual day-drinking and being overall really, really chilled out; something that contrasted with his ambitious, tour-heavy lived experience, but which helped him become one of the wealthiest musicians on the planet, with an estimated net-worth of around $1 billion when he died, more than half of which came from his touring and recording efforts, the rest of which came from all sorts of investments and business dealings, including the Margaritaville Cafe in Key West, which kicked-off a portfolio of restaurant assets, and then casinos and cruise lines, and Margaritaville-branded clothing and alcohol products.

He wrote some books, he made some canny investments, and basically did really well for himself—but Buffett will probably remain best known, despite his many accolades, for the vibe that permeated all his public-facing efforts, which captured a sensibility popular with folks of a certain age.

If you were born between roughly 1946 and 1964 in the United States, and thus are categorized as a Baby Boomer, there’s a good chance you either romanticize the sort of lifestyle Buffett was a proponent of, or you know a lot of people who do.Maybe these people became Parrotheads—ardent fans of Buffett’s work—or maybe they just like the idea of cruises and beachside vacations and traveling to warmer locales