The Boomers Have Had It Too Good?

This is Ragebait to me. I have no intention of reading any of it.

Oh again!

Well, the idea was to consider the both sides rather than have a knee jerk reaction.
And no-one was forcing you to even look at this thread.

(Btw, it's a BBC radio programme, not something to read)

I haven’t listened to it ( will do later) but wonder if young people now would live the way that we did when our children were young. Hand me down clothes, saving up for things that we needed. Raging inflation at one time that we had to negotiate. No nursery provision if we wanted to return to work. Constant worry of unemployment during the Thatcher years etc.

Spot on MayBee70.

It wasn't all milk and honey, although I made sure my children were fed as well as I could manage and had their daily milk.

I think many now would be quite shocked at how we had to penny pinch. That is not to ignore those who are struggling now.

Plus we are not dead[yet].

Who knows what is to come.

Plus if we have been blest, so be it.

Yep, we have had it too good we have too much and we want more.

Macmillan coined the phrase, most of us " have never had it so good".

Pensioners have never been better off, or maybe someone can remember better times.

We might be better off now but it was certainly a struggle when bringing up a family.

Another way of setting groups of people against each other.

Do some people want to go back to the days when some pensioners lived on cornflakes and tea?

Or perhaps making sure that our younger generations will not even have a pension? Just take it away now?

Own brands of course.

Or dog meat?

JenniRen

We might be better off now but it was certainly a struggle when bringing up a family.

It's always a struggle with a young family, our GC are having a much harder time with jobs and housing than ever our generation did.

Thank you for this, NittWitt.

Perhaps a better thread title would have been Across the Red Line or Conflict Resolution.

The essence of the series is not really the topic itself but how people listen to one another, what they hear, what they understand of the other person's point of view, whether there is any common ground and whether someone's position shifts as a result of the debate.

I think that in less than 30 minutes, with time lost to explaining the rules and the process, there wasn't going to be time for either position to shift.

I did find Jackie Weaver's arguments in defence of boomers rather good especially with regard to old age care and the fact that London boomers did have to move away from their home city to able to afford somewhere to live. Henry Hill seemed to think this was something new.

In fact, Henry Hill was technically inaccurate on a number of issues. I think he needs to watch BBC' drama series This Life to understand that professional house shares existed before his generation and long before that one too.

It does horrify me that young people leave university thousands of pounds in debt and with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. When an American colleague told me years ago how much debt he had because of college it never crossed my mind that it would be the same here one day. And then face having to work till they’re nearly seventy.

It is true that anyone who owns a property is ‘rich’ by comparison to many of the younger generations who cannot get themselves security in the workplace (which we mostly did have) nor a foot on the property ladder - which is especially true for those who don’t have a ‘bank of mum and dad’.

Those without that boost in life do struggle if they are not particularly well educated. Not everyone has the same levels of intelligence nor ambition (or focus).

I suppose it boils down to ‘life isn’t fair’. Which it isn’t. Some people have a rotten hand of cards to play. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to feel for them.

That wasn’t really the point of the programme though. It was about how we respond to people who hold opposing views and whether we can be persuaded by argument and find common ground. It’s worth a listen.

I dislike attempts to set generations against other. Young families have always not had enough cash, I know we often lurched from month to month. Yet we had more than our grandparents dreamed of, as well as more than our parents.

I’m fortunate my adult children and husbands are all working, though unlike my generation, three are self employed so more precarious than I was at their age (early 40s). They’ve always worked, from Saturday jobs in retail in sixth form and pubs or bars at university . I feel for the current generation for whom Saturday jobs are less available
I also wonder how my lot manage with bigger mortgages and cost of living costs, alongside greater expectations of parents to provide holiday clubs and after school activities. The cost of food, heating, somewhere to live takes a greater proportion of their income, is my impression.

I’m with MayBee in being horrified by the debt those who worked hard to achieve a degree and have fiendish debt, the loans were mis sold.

Generations should avoid blaming each other, we need not to get defensive for being Boomers. IMO our generation contributed a lot to our country and communities in our life time. Be proud of our achievements. Despite our difficulties, our society is more equal than when we were yiung 🌞

Because we have lived through our lives and know that things turned out right we forget all the worries and problems that we have survived.

All the austerity of the post war period with housing shortages, food shortges, fuel shortages, polluted air and smogs. The cold winter of 1947 and being asked not to light fires in our houses to keep ourselves warm. 4 inches if water in our baths.

The cold war and the daily fear of beng nuked of this earth,
Does no one remember the Cuban Missile Crisis and the stand off between Kennedy and Kruschev. The Russians were found to be stationing nuclear missiles in Cuba and Kennedy said remove them, or else. In the end Kruschev blinked, but we did not know he would and the world stayed awake, gripped by fear

Then there was the rampant 20% inflation in the 1970s

There was the demolition of British industry in the 1980s. Unemployment was at 11% and 3 million people were unemployed. 3 million boomers out of work, worried about paying their mortgages

I can remember having to drive from Reading to Easington gas terminal, about 30 miles the other side of Hull for a meeting. The roads, M4/M25/M1 were almost devoid of traffic, when I drove into the Midlands, every industrial building was empty with a For Sale or To Let sign displayed on the roof or building wall.

Then mortgage interest rates soared above 10%. This was followed by a slump in housing after a fast rise and mass repossessions as people who had just about managed to struggle to buy a small 2up 2 down house, payment based on regular ,found they had no overtime and were on short hours. Since then when the housing market slums lenders are careful not let another mass eviction event like that occur again.

Oh yes we boomers (actually I am too old to be a boomer) have led a charmed life, that is why so many Boomer pensioners are living in poverty, unable to get the care they need.

David49 I do not know what Nirvana you lived in, but it is certainly not the world I lived in. Life back then was as uncertain and worrying as it is now. It is just the things causing concern are different and just as we had to deal with the problems besetting us, which were the results of things that happened before we were born, as has every generation, The younger generations will have to do the same.

Monica 🤙

Iam64

I dislike attempts to set generations against other. Young families have always not had enough cash, I know we often lurched from month to month. Yet we had more than our grandparents dreamed of, as well as more than our parents.

I’m fortunate my adult children and husbands are all working, though unlike my generation, three are self employed so more precarious than I was at their age (early 40s). They’ve always worked, from Saturday jobs in retail in sixth form and pubs or bars at university . I feel for the current generation for whom Saturday jobs are less available
I also wonder how my lot manage with bigger mortgages and cost of living costs, alongside greater expectations of parents to provide holiday clubs and after school activities. The cost of food, heating, somewhere to live takes a greater proportion of their income, is my impression.

I’m with MayBee in being horrified by the debt those who worked hard to achieve a degree and have fiendish debt, the loans were mis sold.

Generations should avoid blaming each other, we need not to get defensive for being Boomers. IMO our generation contributed a lot to our country and communities in our life time. Be proud of our achievements. Despite our difficulties, our society is more equal than when we were yiung 🌞

Generations should avoid blaming each other...

Indeed they should.

Each generation has little to no control over the economic climate of its era - apart from voting and organising pressure groups.

What we should be doing is joining forces and demanding a more equitable society for all.

... otherwise we let successive governments off the hook and allow them to partake in the generational or other demographic 'war'. Which is where we're at now.

I don’t know, I think they seem to have plenty of money these days.
I couldn’t afford beauty treatments, tattoos & Starbucks coffees back in the day.
As for free bus fares, I use to walk everywhere.
Maybe it’s all credit cards.

More division in our country Keep stirring the pot

There has always been poverty there will always be poverty
I didn’t live a particularly easy life as a young mother and I haven’t really lived that special a life as a pensioner especially now with my 25p extra
However I ve neither been rich or poor just plodding on as most of us do
I have no interest in making young people feel either superior or inferior we are all doing our best in what way we can and should work together
David49 my grandkids are much better off than I was at their age I have 7 and all are in good jobs, one owns their own house. I was 40 before I owned a house my parents in their early 60 s They have all holidayed abroad since they were babies I was 18 when I went on my first holiday to Jersey, my parents never went abroad. I’ve never owned a car never ever had one in the family the grandkids have all had cars since they were 17/18and I m happy for them

What do you call well off though? I never considered I was badly off