The article discusses the current "K-shaped economy" in the US, which is moving in two different directions for different groups of people, as well as the rich, indicating that the rich are gaining wealth and distance from the poor is increasing. This trend, dubbed "the K-shaped Economy," is causing widespread discontent in the country. The author suggests that higher-educated, higher-income households, particularly those of baby boomers born 1946 through 1964, have had it better than any other birth cohort in U.S. history. However, their adult children and grandchildren are not doing well compared to their parents and grandparents. Student loans, once modest ($4,500 for boomer me at the end of grad school in 1980), now make large divots in monthly budgets lasting well into one’s professional years. Richard Easter, a productive economist who died at age 98, examined how the size of population affected how well people born during these cohorts and how well they did on average. He also looked at the timing of work and work, which factors such as high-earning years affected the average worker's performance.