What did the Boomers ever do for me?

[Nomama]

In the interests if balance, you understand!

I shall start with the Ford machinists:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_sewing_machinists_strike_of_1968

Equal Pay Act 1970

My thanks to you, Baby Boomers. Without you I couldn't have earned the same honest day's pay as the man working next to me. Hell, I couldn't even have got the job in the first place.

Now this generation needs to thoroughly break the Glass Ceiling!

[WetAugust]

no such thing as coming from the wrong side if town. If his parents had opted for a grammar school and he passed the 11 plus, he would have been entitled to a grammar school place.

I frequently walked 3 miles from home to my school and back.

[senua]

were there any concerts that cost half a weeks wages, or were prices more affordable? And the clothes you bought, did they last years or look like shit after 3 washes unless you spent a months rent on a dress.

Concerts were probably cheaper because no-one would pay high prices! I cannot imagine justifying spending half a week's wages on a ticket, our generation didn't do that. Or justifying popping over to Europe for a city-break just for a concert. I have a friend who does stuff like that then moans about how broke she is.
Clothes did look shit. Have you not seen seventies stuff, the decade that fashion forgot. Unfortunately, they also lasted.
Generally stuff , physical items - clothes, furniture, electricals - were much more expensive (relative to wages) back then.

[Andrewofgg]

Careful, WetAugust, or they'll be quoting the Four Yorkshiremen sketch at you!

In my last year at primary school my walk was a mile and a half each way and I loved it especially in the evening when it became light. That was the hard winter of 1962-3 and my walk took me on a busy road but with water-meadows on one side and the changing appearance during the thaw in March when snow gave way to long pools and then to damp grass was magic, pure magic.

[Andrewofgg]

I'm turning into a sentiment old git . . .

[Methe]

My grandparent generation had the opportunity of having a decent life on one wage. They were able to bring up their own children and didn't have to pay teenagers to do it for them. They could afford a house and live a decent life at the same time. Women were valued as mothers and weren't sneered at if they weren't working full time.

Children had better lives.

The baby boomers had it good.. None of them seem to appreciate it though.

[RoastingYourChestnutsHurtsAlot]

What we need are more affordable homes. Family homes. Not these shite portacabinesque blocks of flats developers throw up and sell for the price of a 3 bed house.

[HeraldAngelSinging]

I left school at 17 and, because I'd attended a grammar school, I fell into a good job straightaway. It was an advantage to have been at that type of school. There were far fewer universities then so only the top 5% went. My parents were not well off so, once I'd reached leaving age, I had to go to work (it was 16 then).

There were so many evening classes for any subject you wanted so I finished up with decent O level passes (no grades then) and three decent A levels.

Our first house was a three-bedroomed semi in Berkshire and cost £3,500 in 1964. 10 years later with two children, we needed a bigger house so sold it for £11,800 and bought a 4 bedroomed detached for £15,000. I stayed at work until I was 64 because I enjoyed the work. The pension then for women then was 60. Yes, I've had a good life - but it's what I made it.

[skylark2]

"I teach 16 - 19 year olds and I haven't heard a political view in years."

Really? My daughter's 18. She and her cohort in general have some extremely strong views on the LibDems' Uturn on university fees. I guess it's possible they never voice them in front of teachers, but I can't see why they wouldn't - they certainly discuss them with everyone else!

[pixiestix]

While I was trying to compose my post Methe went and said it for me

[WetAugust]

There was a lot less to spend things on in those days. No mobile phones, CDs, DVDs dishwashers tumble dryers, Sky, etc. Our first home landline was in 1967. Colour TV 1969. First freezer in 1976. first microwave 1983. first portable colour TV 1987. And so on.

Saw bands like the Rolling Stones, the Who and Led Zep for about £20 I think.

Clothes were more expensive and you had fewer of them, but they lasted longer. public transport was cheaper and more reliable so you could often manage without a car. Of course we didn't have all the out of town shops that you need your own transport for.

also I feel there was more if a community spirit as people tended to watch the same TV programmes and would talk about events such as Who a Shot JR etc nowadays, with Sky and pay to view you're unlikely to have watched the same stuff as a workmate.

[kilmuir]

And if you had been around in the boomer days, would you have acted any differently. no

[TheRealAmandaClarke]

Yy dustbunny

[BackOnlyBriefly]

So.. boomers are job hoggers because they go to work and property hoggers because they live in their homes?

Has anyone really worked out what they'd like boomers to do - other than commit suicide?

[ArgyMargy]

Houses may have been cheaper for boomers (myself included) but many other things were relatively far more expensive. Clothes cost much more - no primark or similar, no concept of "disposable" clothing. Food cost more and air travel was out of the reach of most ordinary people. Mortgages were 16% interest when I bought my first flat.

[Nonboomer]

I think the job hogging comment is unfair - what else are people supposed to do - go on the dole? But the gloating over the unearned profits from the property market and deliberate blocking of new developments is one thing that really pisses me off.

I would also suggest young people today are not generally politically involved because nobody listens to them - politicians go after the bigger voting blocks which compromise of older people. Boomers have together been a large demographic their whole lives so are used to being listened to and thinking their opinions make a difference. Last election many young people did get involved when the Lib Dems actually reached out to them and look how that turned out - the Lib Dems had already decided before the election (according to leaked documents) that young people weren't a politically significant demographic and that it wasn't worth sticking to their pledge on tuition fees.

[senua]

the Lib Dems had already decided before the election (according to leaked documents) that young people weren't a politically significant demographic and that it wasn't worth sticking to their pledge on tuition fees

That was pretty dumb. Did it not occur to them that these young people have parents? The ConDems aren't getting my vote any time soon after landing our family with an extra £24,000 of tuition fees.

[Scaredycat3000]

My home town had a Primark in as far back as I can remember so 1980ish and fashions didn't change three times a year. And what about C&A? I'm trying to point out that it really doesn't matter how much things cost as too the percentage of your income that was disposable, spent on clothes, entertainment, etc. My cost per wear of clothing (lots of low quality) may not be very different (few high quality) to your cost per wear. I spent a lot of my childhood in the working men's club, no way could we afford that now, evenings out are expensive now, so we have Sky and stay in.
This has gone from please massage the boomers egos to tit for tat point scoring.

[TinklyLittleLaugh]

I'm just about a boomer. People live completely different lives now. We were all about the bread and butter. People now go for the jam. Fair enough, but then they complain because they have no bread and butter.

When DP and I were young, we barely paid our mortgage/rent bills and food and ran one crappy little car. We went camping for our holidays. Our little house was frankly a shithole. We were young, decently paid graduates. The only people who live like that now are on benefits. We had the standard of living that people on benefits have now; crappy secondhand furniture, black and white portable TV, no new clothes from one year to the next. Our baby had a secondhand pram and hand me down clothes.

People these days have more stuff than they know what to do with, and even then they are constantly updating it with the latest stuff.

And yes, of course the whole house prices situation etc, is much more complicated than that. But really, the materialism of young people shocks me.

[Morloth]

Well one gave birth to me, so that was definitely a bonus.

[drudgetrudy]

at backonlybriefly. I think some posters would really like people in their 60s to crawl off and die-thus freeing up their jobs and homes.

I think everyone agrees that it was easier for baby boomers to find jobs and buy homes-they were lucky in that respect. Social mobility was greater-passing the 11+ was a big leg-up (but what about those who didn't).

Things were very different in the 60s and 70s though.
I had never eaten a meal in a restaurant-even a pub snack until I was 19-it didn't feel like a deprivation it just never occurred to us. The house had ice on the inside of the windows-that didn't appear at all a problem-no central heating was usual.
Money was spent differently-life was different.
I think anyone of any age would sell their home for the market value-not only baby boomers.
I am well aware that young people are having it tough-but I think blaming "boomers" is looking in the wrong place.
Regarding the position of women I think the baby boomers did a lot to help the next generation.

[WetAugust]

This probably warrants it's own thread but I do agree that some baby boomers are job-hogging. I know many in public service jobs who would have had to retire at 60 in the past but who are now permitted to work on indefinitely due to the change in the law. many of them have long since paid off their mortgages, have already earned their maximum pensions, have large amounts of savings and have also partially drawn their occupational pensions. they work because they like the company and routine of going to work.

My feeling is that if they can afford to do so they should retire and let the younger generation take their jobs and rise up through their organisations. there are plenty of opportunities fir voluntary work if they just want something to keep themselves occupied.

[Sixweekstowait]

I 'm a boomer ( b 1946). First one in family to go to university, subsequent career in public sector. Still working free lance and doing voluntary work. All my life I have campaigned for social justice and opposed the policies that have contributed to current problems. I lay much blame at Thatchers door - sale of council houses, privatisation of utilities. I am sick and tired of governments pandering to my age group - the winter fuel allowance , free TV licences ( well I dont have that yet) free bus passes, index linked pension increases - lots of us are very comfortably off and shouldn't be being bribed with such things whilst younger people in the public sector are on pay freezes and in the private sector are on zero hours contracts and/ or minimum wages. Hate the way people on benefits and disabled people are vilified in our society and the way we are set against each other so successfully. I think it's much harder for younger people now - so many more things to feel bad about not being able to have or being offered pay day loans so you can have them. When I bought stuff in junk shops for my first flat I didn't feel hard done by - I felt amazed and privileged at what I had. My very first pay packet after I left university was for more than my dad had ever earned in his life. I was brought up in real poverty and have never forgotten my childhood experiences - I don't really know the point I'm trying to make here except a plea that I am not a selfish boomer and am often ashamed of some of my peers

[drudgetrudy]

I agree with much of what you say Bourdic-(I'm a boomer born 1952 and have similar experiences).
I also think that the seeds of the problems we have now were sown by Thatcher's policies as you detail them and the "no such thing a society" crap.
People began to look to their own interests more and those of their immediate family as that was what they perceived other people to be doing.

The age demographic of poverty has shifted but the real inequality is between the very rich and the rest.

[Sixweekstowait]

Exactly drudge - we are brainwashed ( and I don't use that word lightly) to blame immigrants, benefit claimants, people with public sector pensions, now older 'job-hoggers' (ffs) and meanwhile how many of us support Amazon, Starbucks , Topshop and the whole raft of tax cheats who if they paid their way could solve many of the problems the younger generation face

[CupidStuntSurvivor]

Thank you for this thread OP. I'm 26, didn't grow up in a politically minded family and was taught nothing of politics in school (despite getting 13 good GCSEs). I positively drink in the info on threads like this.