Column: Gen Zers—your Social Security may depend on them

By D.G. Martin
UNC-TV host

Gen Z, I thought to myself, what in the world is that?
Because it was the theme of the annual Emerging Issues Forum in Raleigh last week, I knew I was behind the times.
Just so you will not be so far behind, here are some basics. Gen Z is shorthand for Generation Z, young people born during the nineties and the early part of the current century. Not everybody agrees on the exact dates, but the Emerging Issues Institute defines Gen Z as “today’s 9-to-21 year-olds.”
Why label them with the letter Z?
They follow Generation Y, the group born during the 15 years or so before the nineties, sometimes called Echo Boomers because they are the children of the Baby Boomers.
Before Generation Y came Generation X, those born in the late 1960s into the 1970s. “Newsweek” characterized them as “the generation that dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning in to the social issues around them.” Hence, they are sometimes called the Lost Generation. They were preceded by the post-World War II generation known as Baby Boomers.
Why would the important Emerging Issues Forum focus on Gen Z, the demographic group that is mostly still living at home and not working, or voting, or making policy?
The forum sponsor and speakers quickly delivered a series of answers. In 2020 this new generation “will be the 18-to-30-year-olds comprising the emerging core of our state’s workforce.”
Baby Boomer retirees will be dependent on the productivity and earning power of Gen Z workers to pay Social Security premiums and other taxes that will fund the Boomers’ retiree benefits.
Politicians will not have to wait. This year, the early cohort of Gen Zers will go to polls and help settle the question of who runs our governments.
Gary Pearce, longtime political consultant to former Governor Jim Hunt, told me he would advise a candidate for governor to hire 20 Gen Zers to work full time sending out tweet messages to stir up interest and deliver timely messages about the candidate’s positions and proposals.
At the Emerging Issues Forum, Pearce learned that Gen Zers send an average 3,000 tweets each month. Receiving and sending message after message is their way of getting current information. Breaking into that system of information exchange is as important in reaching Gen Zers as television has been to reach the Baby Boomers.
Although Pearce is much too old to be a Gen Zer, he says he entered the tweeting community and now gets almost all his current political information by following the tweets of political activists.
Some people at the forum wanted to jerk the iPhones and other devices from the hands and ears of the Gen Zers, who seem addicted to them. They feel young people suffer too much from the loss of personal, face-to-face interaction. But others, like Pearce, are upbeat about the new fast-moving communication that the Gen Zers have mastered.
Machines like the ones the Gen Zers use to send their tweets will continue to revolutionize the work place. Factories and offices will continue to increase efficiency. The good news is that factory and office workers will be more and more productive. The bad news is that the more efficient working places will need fewer and fewer workers.
Still, good jobs directing designing, building and directing the new equipment will be available for Gen Zers who are educated, directed and trained.
The challenge for the rest of us is to be sure North Carolina’s systems of education and training are up to the task of preparing the Gen Zers for opportunities that will be available.
We have at least one good reason to make sure it happens: The retirement income for us older generations depends on the prosperity and success of the Gen Zers.

D.G. Martin hosts UNC-TV’s "North Carolina Bookwatch," which returns Sunday at 5 p.m. For more information or to view prior programs, visit the webpage at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

Column: My coach did not spit on anybody’s hand

By: D.G. Martin
UNC-TV host

It is too bad that sports reporters and historians at Atlantic Coast Conference headquarters are not reading “ACC Basketball.” This UNC Press book by Sam Walker was published last year and chronicles the game during the conference’s first 20 years.
On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing for my old basketball coach, Lefty Driesell.
How do I know sports reporters and ACC staffers are not reading the new book? It came out in the controversy that developed about UNC Coach Roy Williams taking most of his players off the court 14 seconds before the game ended in Carolina’s recent loss to Florida State. Williams thought the game was ending early. One story line in the following days was about other times that ACC basketball games ended early.
After checking with an ACC staffer, the Raleigh News & Observer reported, “As best as anyone can tell, UNC's loss at Florida State would have been just the second ACC game to end before time expired. The first time it happened—and apparently the only time—came in Maryland's 60-55 home victory against N.C. State on Jan. 7, 1967.”
If the ACC and N&O had read “ACC Basketball,” they would have found, on page 2, Sam Walker’s description of another early game ending when Maryland played South Carolina in Columbia. “On December 16, 1970, South Carolina was cruising to an easy victory when, with 4:52 remaining in the game, two players got into a shoving and elbow-throwing skirmish. Both benches rushed to the aid of their teammates, and a slugfest broke out. As Driesell tried to separate players and stop the melee, he was struck twice by South Carolina forward John Ribock. The fracas continued for about four minutes before police managed to halt the fighting and the referees decided to end the game.”
That story of another early ending is not the “good thing” for Coach Driesell.
When I read and enjoyed “ACC Basketball,” I asked UNC Press to send him a copy, thinking he would enjoy some of the stories about him.
I was wrong. Driesell called me the day after he got the book. “I’m going to sue them,” he said. He pointed to a paragraph in the book about the recruitment of basketball star Charlie Scott in 1966. Scott was headed to Davidson, where Driesell was coaching, until Coach Dean Smith persuaded him to go to Carolina. It said that when Smith and Driesell met afterwards, “Smith offered his hand to Driesell and said something along the lines of ‘no hard feelings.’ A fuming Driesell indicated that there were indeed some hard feelings by spitting on Smith’s outstretched palm.”
Driesell was livid. “I would never spit on anybody’s hand. That is terrible.”
He was worried about his friends’ reactions and especially about what “Dean’s family would think.”
Thanks to ECU athletic director, and Driesell’s assistant coach at the time, Terry Holland, the book’s version was corrected. Holland told Walker and UNC Press that “I was standing right beside Coach Driesell and can guarantee that there was no ‘spitting’ involved.”
As a result, the new printing of “ACC Basketball” revises its report to say simply, “Driesell looked down at Smith’s hand and shook his head to indicate that he was not ready to concede defeat.”
So the good thing for Driesell about reporters not reading “ACC Basketball” yet, is that when they do, he can hope they will read the revised version and not see a word about spitting.
“But what about people who read the earlier version?” Driesell asked me.
“All I can do,” I told him, “is write a column that says you didn’t spit in anybody’s hand, and my readers will know the truth.”

D.G. Martin hosts UNC-TV’s "North Carolina Bookwatch," which airs Sundays at 5 p.m. For more information or to view prior programs, visit the webpage at www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

UNC-TV's North Carolina now reports on Bowles, Simpson Duke appearance

Former White House Chief of Staff and former University of North Carolina President Erskine Bowles and former U.S. Senator from Wyoming Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, spoke in Page Auditorium at Duke University on Wednesday, Jan. 18. UNC-TV was there to record the event in its entirety, which will be used to produce two special North Carolina Now programs that will be broadcast on UNC-TV Jan. 19 and 20 at 7:30 p.m.
The event, "Decision Time: Bowles, Simpson and the Federal Budget," is part of the Sanford School's Terry Sanford Distinguished Lecture series, which brings notable leaders to speak on Duke's campus.
Bowles and Simpson will discuss ideas for reining in the federal budget and restoring confidence in the economy. Philip Bennett, a Duke public policy professor and managing editor of the PBS series FRONTLINE, will moderate the discussion.
President Obama created the budget commission in February 2010 to identify policies to improve the nation's fiscal situation and to achieve fiscal sustainability over the long run. The commission was to propose recommendations to balance the budget by 2015 and to address the growth of entitlement spending and the gap between projected revenues and expenditures of the federal government.
The bipartisan commission included members from both parties from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Its recommendations failed to gain sufficient support and have not been implemented. Other federal fiscal reform attempts also have failed, most recently the "super committee."
The event is part of the Sanford School's series, "Gridlock: Can our System Address America's Biggest Problems?"
UNC-TV is North Carolina's statewide public television network.

UNC-TV presents discussion with Malcolm Gladwell at HPU

High Point University Presents: Malcolm Gladwell & Nido Qubein
Premieres Thursday, Jan. 12, at 10 p.m. on UNC-TV

Recorded live as part of High Point University's Cultural Enrichment series, President Nido Qubein and celebrated author Malcolm Gladwell trade insights on the trends shaping our world. Gladwell, the best-selling author of "The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers: The Story of Success," covers everything from Steve Jobs to the Occupy Wall Street movement to the world marketplace. Dr. Nido R. Qubein became High Point University’s seventh president in January 2005. Under his leadership, the university has seen unprecedented growth in enrollment, academic programs and facilities. He is an acclaimed professional speaker, author of 12 books and sits on the boards of several Fortune 500 companies.

UNC-TV is North Carolina's statewide public television network.