to think the biggest threat to this country is war between generations

[suziepra]

In modern UK the young have to look forward to a backbreaking amount of debt as even to be a pa you need a degree. Then once they graduate they will be lucky to get a decent wage and only a tiny amount of people under 30 (3% of homes win last six months were purchased by under 30s) will be able to buy a houses. They will probably have a miserable time stuck at home during their 20s and 30s finding it difficult to start a family. Then they will have to work for the rest of their lives. Whereby watching their parents who bought cheep homes, retire in their 60s and enjoy 20 years of retirement. Yes I know there are exceptions to what I said, but this does seem to be the norm in the south east. I can see things going nasty.

well said madsometimes, my parents were quite well off but never threw money around. they both came from humble beginnings born during ww2.

I agree with this ^.

My parents childhood was spent with rationing etc and dealing with the aftermath of war. Not exactly living the high life is it....

My dad started work at 14.

They had no parental help to buy their first house either. If they have a little money that they have scrimped and saved for over the years to spend when they retired then good for them!

Niceguy2. You simply don't get it do you. Reagan & Thatcher removed financial regulations which allowed Banks & Building Societies to lend unlimited amounts of money to any person who wanted a mortgage. The baby boomer generation born between 1945 and 1960 were subject to strict controls & we're not allowed to borrow more than 2 and a half times their salary. Sometimes the wife's salary wasn't taken into consideration as women had no equal rights at all then. Similarly loans had strict controls & often a guarantor had to be found. Your post is full of inaccuracies.
NO person born between those dates has caused the ending recession. To get a private pension worth having it would be necessary to have a large chunk of monthly salary transferred from an early age. In our case, 17yrs old. You seem to think that pensions are free! 45 years of paying a substantial amount each month finally morphs into a pension, which is then taxed again.
Your vitriol is aimed at the wrong age group. Better you direct your non sensical theories to Bankers & Politicians.

at least this generation contributed and paid NI.

I don't know which generation you mean alemci, but I am mid-twenties, have worked since I was 18 through uni and then into full-time employment. I also contribute to NI and pay income tax.

I'm not annoyed with any other age group, and really doubt that there would be a "war" between generations. Quite far-fetched.

I mean the older generation, often working from 14 for long hours.

I can't help that I didn't do that (and it is a lot better now, not having to), but I contribute just as much as anyone else. :) Wouldn't dream of not working when I'm perfectly able to.

alemci you wouldn't have been able to contribute that NI if zero hours contracts and workfare had existed back then.

And yes it IS right wing policies to blame for the way things are Demelza is right.

YY Numan Its hardly the fault of Generation X that the school leaving age was upped to sixteen

Yes yes, lets blame the boomers for all the world's ills

OP you sound rather childish. Why aren't people holding the government responsible? They are the ones that have made it difficult to buy and loaded up you youngens with all this debt?

Btw, I'm in my 30s and still think your talking tosh.

I know Numan. I'm sure you've got a great work ethic.

I don't think it is fair to be so unjust to baby boomers not that you were but the tone of the thread.

Well Steeleye ,you sound very bitter, nasty actually.

There are two generations receiving this 'massive' state pension that you say you are paying half your salary to fund. The older retired were brought up in the war years, suffered hardship, rationing and poverty. Not many of these have gold plated private pensions or live in expensive houses. The younger retired 'baby boomers' did find it easier to buy houses but a very high proportion of their income went on funding the purchase, interest rates were in double figures and they too were highly taxed. Their houses were not filled with expensive gadgets, two car families were rare and it was common to drive old bangers. The money they have now is often used to help support their children and grandchildren.

I can understand the resentment you and others feel because of the difficulty in buying property especially in the south east, but there are so many you could blame for this and for the other ills in society. Politicians, big business, the banks, shareholders, foreign investors etc all play a part. But no you choose to blame your parents and grandparents who have also suffered from unfairness and inequality.

Hear hear Apple...you've got it in one.

It makes a change from blaming everything on immigrants, I suppose; or people on benefits; or public sector workers.

Wonder who's turn it'll be next?

It is very true that you cannot blame people for the generation in which they grow up.

They are indeed as subject to government policies as the rest of us. The fact is that there are more pensioners than young people and the Tories have made it clear they will not cut benefits to pensioners. So it's young people who bear the brunt of 'austerity'

Such a shame when they took away EMA. So many young people working hard, getting nowhere.

I've worked on a 4 hour contract because it's all I could get. Luckily I was still studying at the time, but it would have been so boring if I wasn't. Apart from zero hour contracts and the like not providing enough to live on, it's extremely boring staying at home the rest of the time, with not enough money to go out.

That said, there are lazy people who simply don't want to work of all ages. I don't think any one generation can be blamed as a whole for being 'the lazy ones'.

Anyone else know a thoroughly unpleasant organisation called the Intergenerational Foundation which seems to want to fan the flames of Age War?

Look at their website. You won't like it.

This is not. New idea. David Willetts wrote a book about how the baby boomers pulled up the drawbridge behind themselves - they got free tuition at university, loans you could live on, cheap housing. Then they voted in policies to deny all of these to the generation below while they kick up an almighty stink about their benefits if they ever look like dropping. But while young people don't vote this will not change. We must vote!

I am '52 vintage, so not strictly baby-boomer. And yes, I had a grant, and yes, DW and I could afford to buy a home - the same modest home we have 35 years on - when we got married. And yes, I am public sector and will retire to a modest but index-linked pension.

But I did not vote for the abolition of the grant. I am not responsible for what has happened to house-prices. I am not an actuary, I did not know what was going to happen to longevity, not that I will necessarily live long. I just signed on the dotted line and paid my pension contributions and my mortgage - which was at 11.25% when it stated and reached 15% at one time, so I have a jaundiced view of the return I am now getting on my hard-earned savings. And No, I don't feel guilty that I have that pension to come and my home paid for. I've worked for both.

And I have lived in London since I was 13; paid fares, rates, poll-tax, council-tax, for previous generations of sixty-plussers to have free travel, working or not and without means test, and it's my turn now and I am not ashamed of it.

Get off my back, OP, I feel no guilt whatever!

Are you for real?

We are supposed to hate and shun our parents and the older generation for working all their lives to buy homes which they will eventually leave to their children? They were careful with money, didn't blow their financial security with shed loads of credit as young people did in the 90s

Our parents worked hard to give US good homes and financial security and helped us with university fees when they never had the chance of higher education.

Stop whining and stand on your own feet. Your parents and the older generation do not owe you a living.

My parents would help me out at the drop of a hat but I would not ask if I can manage by myself. What they did give me was self esteem and an inability to feel sorry for myself.

Previous generations died in wars for you and you can't cope because it's not being handed to you on a plate?

Grow up!

Andrew that organisation sounds bloody awful.

And who the hell do you think provides free childcare to me and thousands of other parents so we can work? The fucking tooth fairy?

The majority of parents would move heaven and earth for their children and you think we should be at war with them?

I have seriously never seen such a ridiculous thread and AIBU is plumbing the depths here. I'm hiding this pile of shit because it is way too annoying

Sorry I don't buy this blame governments for everything argument that's always thrown in to defect blame. Governments are voted in by people, these people have to take responsibility for the actions made by the government. Its was known about in the 70s that there would be a huge pension crisis and sod all was done. Young people have every right to feel pissed off as they were born into a messed up system with debts from previous generations that they will end up paying for. If someone else dines out and I have to pick up their bill before I can eat I would be pissed off.

pinkrose says it very well.

you OP sound like a spoilt brat.