Why the baby boomers shouldn't feel guilty

LilacPixie

I have no idea why the likes of my parents should feel guilty for they challenges they faced. From what i can see my dad worked his bum off to provide for his family and to keep a roof over our heads and now at 64 he is mostly retired and mortgage free. My parents are not rich, they have enough to be comfortable and have 2 weeks in spain a year. Hardly lavish. Their home is a 4 bed and they worded hard for it so should get to live out their days in it if thats what they want.

I'm an 80's child so not quite a young adult anymore, no doubt in 50 years time my kids or grandkids will be complaining about my generation. Moaning does nothing but give you a headache

A._Badger

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Do you mean responsibility?

If so....whats all this about making others work longer for their pensions?

No 'R' as in read. As in 'consider the argument' rather than spout the stock response.

LilacPixie

A._Badger wrote: »

No 'R' as in read. As in 'consider the argument' rather than spout the stock response.

The argument seems a bit flawed, well very flawed IMO. It says of those 'young adults' surveyed who are now in their 30's (like me) they say they spent half their net income on entertainment during their 20's. Well for a large part of my 20's i was a student, I worked in Asda 10 hours a week at min wage so my income was probably about £45 a week. I would of quite easily spent half that on a mix of cinema, mcdonalds and the student union. I went to Malia in 1999 and 2 weeks cost me a grand total of £289, the inbetweeners movie cause me and my best friend to take a trip down memory lane and dig out the pictures and we found the receipt. That holiday would of been a huge proportion of my regular pay.

Rinoa

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Do you mean responsibility?

If so....whats all this about making others work longer for their pensions?

The vast majority of boomers will still have worked longer for their pensions.

They left school at 15/16, today's generation go on to university and don't start work until they're 21. Or 22 for those taking the now obligatory gap year.

ILW

Rinoa wrote: »

The vast majority of boomers will still have worked longer for their pensions.

They left school at 15/16, today's generation go on to university and don't start work until they're 21. Or 22 for those taking the now obligatory gap year.

A point mant seem to ignore. If you start work 5 years later, expect to buy a house 5 years later and retire 5 years later. Seems simple to me.

grizzly1911

drc wrote: »

I don't think that boomers planned to screw over the younger generation, that was the politicians.

I totally agree with that part of the post, don't think it was just labour it was/is Government of any colour.

This argument is also heavily skewed by location and expectation.

.

BobQ

ruggedtoast wrote: »

The welfare state was started in 1911 and was well established by 1948.

We obviously failed to teach history in a way you could understand. My grandmother used to tell me about her experiences between the world wars. This great welfare state you say was started in 1911 had not evolved to the stage where she could get medical treatment for her severely disabled son without being humiliated by the well to do parish committee. For example they could not appreciate why a 12 year old unable to walk needed a wheelchair.

homelessskilledworker

I do not have a problem with baby boomers having 80% of the wealth, what I do have a problem with is 70 or even 80 year olds in huge 4 or 5 bedroomed houses when 30 working something year olds are unable to rear families in anything bigger than 2 bedroomed shoeboxes.

CLAPTON

homelessskilledworker wrote: »

I do not have a problem with baby boomers having 80% of the wealth, what I do have a problem with is 70 or even 80 year olds in huge 4 or 5 bedroomed houses when 30 working something year olds are unable to rear families in anything bigger than 2 bedroomed shoeboxes.

why don't collectives of skilled workers build houses at cost price plus reasonable wages

homelessskilledworker

CLAPTON wrote: »

why don't collectives of skilled workers build houses at cost price plus reasonable wages

Thats just too easy is'nt it...

What we have now is an equivilant of war time food horders that keep prices artificially high while others starve, but with that particular crime retribution is fine.

Both are equally imorral in my eyes.