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SquatNow

margaretclare wrote: »

Some of us did not ask for the stupid inflation in house prices that have occurred in less than a decade. This little 2-bed bungalow is not worth the £190K that we're told it is worth. Even with the work that has been done on it over the years to bring it up to modern standards, it is not worth the extra £100K. And also, we lived through years of poverty and have worked for some 5 decades, usually in responsible and essential jobs but not often highly-paid.

I don't know who created this situation, but it certainly wasn't us.

Poverty is comparative. The scale is about to be re-drawn.

oldMcDonald

margaretclare wrote: »

Some of us did not ask for the stupid inflation in house prices that have occurred in less than a decade. This little 2-bed bungalow is not worth the £190K that we're told it is worth. Even with the work that has been done on it over the years to bring it up to modern standards, it is not worth the extra £100K. And also, we lived through years of poverty and have worked for some 5 decades, usually in responsible and essential jobs but not often highly-paid.

I don't know who created this situation, but it certainly wasn't us.

margaretclare, thank you .

I often look at the housing situation and I find it very easy to place the blame on people of a generation or two above myself, even though I know people my own age (I'm in my 30s) who have been similarly full of glee at the over inflated house prices we have seen. I have close family members who are part of the so-called 'Baby Boomer' generation - their attitude towards us not being able to afford to buy is a mix of believing we are spendthrifts (they managed it, after all, on one wage from a poorly paid job, they tell me), or that we are just plain lazy and won't work as hard as they did. I often allow it to cloud my judgement of all people who are part of a generation or two above me.

I like your posts - you seem to be a very fair and down to earth person, and you often make me question the assuptions I make.

margaretclare

SquatNow wrote: »

Poverty is comparative. The scale is about to be re-drawn.

The poverty I grew up in would not even be recognised nowadays. For an unmarried pregnant young woman - which my mother was - one option was being sent to a mental hospital for life. Another was having the baby removed for adoption. Or a 'shotgun marriage', if the guy could be persuaded. A few lucky ones might be supported by their parents, which happened to my mother. I was mainly brought up by my aunt, a polio survivor, who sat on the floor for most of her life and when she moved, moved on hands and knees.

Who ever thought about their 'basic human rights'?

I never had any choice except to work. There was no talk of 'I'll be worse off working than claiming benefits', as if working or claiming benefits was a realistic life choice. I thought that poverty had gone, but it returned in 1992 when widowhood coincided with redundancy. So please don't dare to talk to me about 'having made a fortune from the property market', BTLs and an 'addiction to foreign holidays'.

Worse, there are people who worked all their lives but are STILL living in poverty. Approx 25% of all retired women, according to Age Concern figures, are in poverty. The younger generation told to 'work hard and pay taxes' to keep us in comfort? I have had nothing else but 'work hard and pay taxes' but my taxes went to maintain previous generations. No 'gap year' for us, no option to live at home and pay nothing, which we read about on these threads. Do not talk out of the hole in your **** and preferably do not talk at all unless you know what you are talking about.

krisskross

margaretclare wrote: »

The poverty I grew up in would not even be recognised nowadays. For an unmarried pregnant young woman - which my mother was - one option was being sent to a mental hospital for life. Another was having the baby removed for adoption. Or a 'shotgun marriage', if the guy could be persuaded. A few lucky ones might be supported by their parents, which happened to my mother. I was mainly brought up by my aunt, a polio survivor, who sat on the floor for most of her life and when she moved, moved on hands and knees.

Who ever thought about their 'basic human rights'?

I never had any choice except to work. There was no talk of 'I'll be worse off working than claiming benefits', as if working or claiming benefits was a realistic life choice. I thought that poverty had gone, but it returned in 1992 when widowhood coincided with redundancy. So please don't dare to talk to me about 'having made a fortune from the property market', BTLs and an 'addiction to foreign holidays'.

Worse, there are people who worked all their lives but are STILL living in poverty. Approx 25% of all retired women, according to Age Concern figures, are in poverty. The younger generation told to 'work hard and pay taxes' to keep us in comfort? I have had nothing else but 'work hard and pay taxes' but my taxes went to maintain previous generations. No 'gap year' for us, no option to live at home and pay nothing, which we read about on these threads. Do not talk out of the hole in your **** and preferably do not talk at all unless you know what you are talking about.

This takes me back almost 50 years to when I got married. No bathroom, no hot water, shared toilet in the backyard. Mice coming out to play as soon as the light was switched off

Left school at 15 on Friday, started full time work on Monday. No one has given us a 'leg-up'. We both worked hard, often at more than 1 job each. My first job I got 30 bob a week, Mum expected and got half of it. We could have stayed in poverty but we chose to do something about it.

Pobby

Thank you to the OP for that link. I am very pleased that your life has turned around. You must be one very strong lady. I salute you.

As Margaret has already pointed out SquatNow some of us older posters did not want to see HPI. I do, of course, understand your anger which I see reflected in some of the youngsters in my family and rightly so. I would take issue with thinking we ``older folk`` are to blame. Little did I know that where I live would increase 400% in less than 10 years. Complete and utter madness!!!!!

Now let me say this. I come from a family who have supported Labour across the generations. I was a member and activist. I have long since left the party that once in history did so much for the working classes. It is unlikely that I will ever vote for them again.

Now what to do? You know something that worries me about younger people is the lack of organisation. Years ago I started on the path of demos. CND, Vietnam, Cruise right up to the poll tax. Now with the advent of the internet it should be much easier to organise a demonstration. People have every right to post where they want but apart from venting anger it does little good.

I am not saying that 1000`s of us stopped Vietnam but even with the pressure from the States, Wilson strongly kept the UK out of the fighting.

What i have done when I have a grievence is e-mail my MP. I also get replies back. I will be e-mailing her with the link to the youtube video and require her response.

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Compilations/HouseOfCommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

Should any other of you wish to do the same then the above is a useful link.

I think that we forget that they are supposed to work for us. I don`t expect my MP likes me but that`s what she is getting paid for. Please don`t let them forget it.

SquatNow

I understand that people may have lived a hard life.

The difference is their children and grandchildren will live a VERY hard life and reach retirement owning nothing but the clothes on their back -if tha.

The current situation where kids have hd a "nice" start to life is oming to an end. Those that had a nice start will end up living as slaves.

Pobby

SquatNow. Just don`t go jumping to the conclusion that us `` boomers `` all had it all easy. Also do not assume that we are anymore happy about this social disgrace. Frankly I couldn`t give a flying b----ck that my house is a zillion quid or four pence . It`s a small house and certainly worth a stupid sum of money.

I honestly wish we had never had all this house inflation. I predicted that it would never happen again after the crash in the 90`s. How wrong was I?

Dithering_Dad

margaretclare wrote: »

There's a man who constantly writes letters to our local paper and he's always banging the drum about how we're a rich country and shouldn't grudge sending foreign aid e.g. to the African and Indian continents, you name it.

We caused most of the problems on the Indian and African continents during the empire days, from the times of slavery to the Raj. All their wealth was stripped and their land divided amongst the European rulers, splitting tribes and causing many of the tensions in Africa.

LillyJ

SquatNow wrote: »

I understand that people may have lived a hard life.

The difference is their children and grandchildren will live a VERY hard life and reach retirement owning nothing but the clothes on their back -if tha.

The current situation where kids have hd a "nice" start to life is oming to an end. Those that had a nice start will end up living as slaves.

Yeah, yeah, we're all doomed and destined to live a life of poverty without so much as a baked bean between us. blah blah blah.

Doesn't life get a bit miserable being so bloomin pessimistic all the time?

For most of us life is pretty good. People like scousebird can turn their lives around by the age of 21, and looking at the kids on that programme people are a lot worse off than most of the rest of us.

To top it off I just found out today a very dear friend (age 24) has an aggressive cancer, 2 weeks after qualifying as a doctor, due to start work tomorrow in her first house job. Beleive me, life could be a lot worse.

lincroft1710

There is only one set of people who you can blame for the rise in house prices - the people who paid the high prices! Doesn't matter what age group they belong to, if the house buying public had said no in about 1999/2000, then houses would have remained affordable, and housebuyers wouldn't have overstretched themselves financially. Many people will of course say that banks and building societies became too greedy and lent money to those who couldn't afford to pay it back, but I would - just agree with that statement.