How the baby boomers have stuffed the younger generation

Blobby8_2

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I agree
When we bought our first house in 1981 we had everything second hand, we didn't have dishwashers, flat screen tv's,computers, or any of the things newlyweds expect today and we had interest rates of 15% and both of us worked.
In fact I remember things that are taken for granted now such as video players/dvd players being nearly £1,000 to buy
We just went without in order to get our foot on the housing ladder. Life wasn't as easy as some seem to think.

Yes 1981 for us too, second hand everything, portable TV, no central heating, no car, no holidays, 12 hour shifts, we had it all did'nt we ?

Wheezy_2

Blobby8 wrote: »

Yes 1981 for us too, second hand everything, portable TV, no central heating, no car, no holidays, 12 hour shifts, we had it all did'nt we ?

Yes and we had to wait twice as long as today for the telly to heat up.
I still remember when kiddy programme was on at 4, we had to turn on telly before 3.55 for the lamps inside to heat up or something. And when the picture started 'rolling' you gave it a good slap on top and it stopped.
Oops, off topic

Percy1983

abaxas wrote: »

Like is not as easy now, manufacturing and labour is cheaper. Hence products are cheaper.

Take for example

BBC micro 1983 - £399
Laptop today - £399

But if we take inflation into account and price the BBC in current value of pound.

BBC micro 1983 - £1000
Laptop today - £400

The example of a £1000 tv is the same.

Lots of things are MUCH cheaper today hence the money we have left over from housing/eating etc goes alot further.

I would have to disagree here, yes technology has got better, but I wouldn't say its got cheaper. The computer comparision is wrong, the BBC micro was the cutting edge, a £399 laptop is rather midrange.

Another example is how much would a 152inch 3D plasma TV cost and compare that to the first colour TVs, but then there was choice like there is now, I can stay with my 40" LCD and back then they could stay with the black and white one (in both cases we will have to wait until the one we want is more affordable).

I don't think my children shouldn't be able to buy a house just because they have better technology than I do now.

Blobby8_2

Percy1983 wrote: »

I would have to disagree here, yes technology has got better, but I wouldn't say its got cheaper. The computer comparision is wrong, the BBC micro was the cutting edge, a £399 laptop is rather midrange.

Another example is how much would a 152inch 3D plasma TV cost and compare that to the first colour TVs, but then there was choice like there is now, I can stay with my 40" LCD and back then they could stay with the black and white one (in both cases we will have to wait until the one we want is more affordable).

I don't think my children shouldn't be able to buy a house just because they have better technology than I do now.

Are you on holiday ? Or working twice as hard as I did ?

abaxas

Percy1983 wrote: »

I would have to disagree here, yes technology has got better, but I wouldn't say its got cheaper. The computer comparision is wrong, the BBC micro was the cutting edge, a £399 laptop is rather midrange.

Another example is how much would a 152inch 3D plasma TV cost and compare that to the first colour TVs, but then there was choice like there is now, I can stay with my 40" LCD and back then they could stay with the black and white one (in both cases we will have to wait until the one we want is more affordable).

I don't think my children shouldn't be able to buy a house just because they have better technology than I do now.

The BBC was by no means cutting edge!

Loanranger

Yep, baby boomers are just sooo stupid. We should have used a condom EVERY time ...:D

Jowo_2

It's easy to be rose-tinted - overall, housing was definately more affordable for the previous generations, university education was free, employment more readily available and less insecure, public transport cheaper and less crowded and so forth.

I read an article from someone reminiscing about how cheap it was to be a student in the 70s - no tuition fee, decent grant, benefits during the summer vacation, etc, but then they said what the tax rate was for those in employment and though I don't recall the exact figure, it was much, much higher than today.

So taxes were higher then and benefits were much lower. The previous generations may have seemed to have it easier but then income tax receipts exceeded expenditure on benefits unlike now.

It's hardly our parents and grand-parents fault that the tax/benefit ratios have been reversed to such a degree that there are many scenarios where claimants are no better off in employment and the govt introduced tax credits and the national minimum wage which encourage part-time and low paid employment.

Percy1983

Blobby8 wrote: »

Are you on holiday ? Or working twice as hard as I did ?

Does that have any relevance, or is that question a distraction as I just blew the tecnology arguement apart?

Just had a look for a cutting edge desktop PC...

BBC Micro £399
Dell Alienware PC £8000+ (yes over the top and overpriced but still the cutting edge)

Blobby8_2

Just wondered if your working so hard how you got the time to post here ?

Percy1983

abaxas wrote: »

The BBC was by no means cutting edge!

So what was the cutting edge PC in 1983? We can adjust the cost and compare no doubt?