Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask if you're pissed off with the Baby Boomers?

825 replies

DamFineBeaver · 08/02/2015 17:33

Because people who are currently young-ish adults (MN's main demographic?), and younger, will be paying for the lavish lifestyle they've enjoyed?
The money borrowed for their nice big pensions will be paid back by us and our children.

Does this mean they shouldn't spend so much time in Tenerife?

OP posts:
twofingerstoGideon · 10/02/2015 13:20

Bedraggled: The whole point of my post was to illustrate that the anti-baby boomers on this thread are spouting generalities (boomers got free university places, massive pensions, everything handed to them on a gilded platter, etc....) when most people of whatever age have different and inconsistent experiences and shouldn't all be tarred with the same (prejudiced) brush.

This thread has majorly pissed me off, as have its many predecessors. Lots of goady, ageist shit and an assumption that we don't give a flying fuck about our own children's futures.

MythicalKings · 10/02/2015 13:23

This thread has majorly pissed me off, as have its many predecessors. Lots of goady, ageist shit and an assumption that we don't give a flying fuck about our own children's futures.

You're so right. And also pissed off with whining about lack of empathy when some posters show precious little themselves.

Still waiting for someone to tell me what they think we should do to "atone" for this "luck" referred to.

Kvetch15 · 10/02/2015 13:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bedraggledmumoftwo · 10/02/2015 13:30

Gideon, that's the thing,lots of people criticised the sweeping generalisation in the op, so I think it is clear that any continuing criticism is of the specific characteristics (ably and conveniently demonstrated by Margaret) rather than the generation as a whole. Of course not everyone born in those two decades benefitted from house price inflation and had a final salary pension, but many did, and a not insignificant number of them have the lack of empathy/understanding of their luck and "we worked for it, you could have it too if you never bought a coffee" mentality that prompts these threads.

MythicalKings · 10/02/2015 13:36

I'm not demanding handouts, though. Very rude of you to assume I am.

Nomama · 10/02/2015 13:36

bedraggled you can only know that if you know, have met, spoken to a properly significant number of such people.

That would be a lot more than are posting here, or that you would normally meet in real life, over a lifetime.

merrymouse · 10/02/2015 13:47

a not insignificant number of them have the lack of empathy/understanding of their luck and "we worked for it, you could have it too if you never bought a coffee"

I think you can find people with that kind of thought process in any age group - just look at the Daily Mail - it's not only sold to Baby Boomers. If somebody can't understand the problems their children and grandchildren are facing, more than likely that is because they are a tosser, not because they are a baby boomer.

Viviennemary · 10/02/2015 13:47

Your income is substantially above minimum wage Margaret. You have only yourself to provide for. If you wish to give your grandchildren extravagant parties don't expect the taxpayer to subsidise it. I don't think your experience is typical. You are on a generous pension which you yourself have never contributed to.

bedraggledmumoftwo · 10/02/2015 13:47

Nomama. I cant say it is a majority, I haven't done a statistical survey, but I have encountered a fair few, and so have many others on here, hence the existence of these threads. I disagree with the sweeping generalisation, but do know people that fit the characteristics described so cant deny they exist.

bloomingMargaret · 10/02/2015 13:53

Its not really an extravagant party, its just at the local leisure centre, but they do provide everything including goodie bags.

Its not that much above min wage, especially as someone one with children will get tax credits, housing benefit and council tax benefit. These never existed for me.

Kvetch15 · 10/02/2015 13:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Nomama · 10/02/2015 14:00

I disagree with the sweeping generalisation, but do know people that fit the characteristics described so cant deny they exist.

As others have said, that such people exist is not in question. But such people come in all sizes, ethnicities and ages. Your post was itself a sweeping generalisation.

FaFoutis · 10/02/2015 14:00

She sounds exactly like all of my (wealthy boomer) neighbours.

DemelzaandRoss · 10/02/2015 14:01

Good on you Margaret...who on earth would want to hold opinions like the ghastly people posting on here. Would love to live till I'm 120 to see what they're like when they are old....even more ghastly I expect!!

bedraggledmumoftwo · 10/02/2015 14:02

Kvetch, exactly. I wouldn't believe she was real if I didn't know someone just like her.

Margaret, again, the min wage is irrelevant, you don't work, have never worked as far as anyone can make out the minimum amount for pensioners is made up of state pension, pension credit, housing benefit according to need. And it is a gazillion times less than you get.

SomewhereIBelong · 10/02/2015 14:03

I am the first person in my family to own a house.

My parents are/were dirt poor baby-boomers too - dad a dead alcoholic, mum a manic depressive in a council flat on a sink estate - neither they , nor I , would consider them to be "lucky".

I was born too late to be a baby boomer, but have benefited from their push for equality, from their belief that anyone can rise to the top. I am the squeezed middle though - I will be the one who cares for my mother and is expected to help my children access higher education, and will have no inheritance to sweeten that pill.

Nomama · 10/02/2015 14:04

Ah! FaFoutis. If all your neighbours are elderly and wealthy then

a) you must live in a very naice place
b) you must also be wealthy

So tis that the logic of MN proceeds.

If neither are true then it is entirely possible that you are:

  1. a benefit scrounger living for free in a house some of us would object to your having access to
  2. you are a widow wobbler and should ashamed of yourself!

fess up...

Baddz · 10/02/2015 14:04

Oh she's real alright.
I know so many like her too :(
My Dhs very wealthy aunt and uncle laugh about their winter fuel payments - they spend it on wine Hmm

bedraggledmumoftwo · 10/02/2015 14:09

Nomama, baby boomer or not is irrelevant. There is a not insignificant number of people out there that have benefited from things like house prices and final salary pensions yet do not understand that they are fortunate to have done so and that such things no longer exist for younger generations.

Saying that a not insignificant minority of baby boomers display these characteristics is not a sweeping generalisation,how ridiculous. I am trying to clarify that the comments on here relate to this specific group, not the generation as a whole.

merrymouse · 10/02/2015 14:09

Council tax benefit is for people on very low incomes including pensioners.

Tax credits and housing benefits reflect the lack of jobs that pay a working wage and the lack of affordable housing.

(And my baby boomer in-laws would point this out to you too.)

FaFoutis · 10/02/2015 14:10

Nomama: a) yes, very naice and b) yes, relatively speaking but also c) bloody massive mortgage.

SquinkiesRule · 10/02/2015 14:21

I'm a baby boomer, born at the end of the boom. No lavish lifestyle for us. I work 13 hour days for the NHS, on my feet all day and I'm bloody knackered.
We were dirt poor growing up, so I don't begrudged my own Mum having a comfortable retirement, of company pensions, police pension (her Dh passed away) and her state pension. She worked hard her whole life full time from age 14 to 67 had a few weeks/months off when sis and I were born, then back to it. Some years she worked all day and had a second job pulling pints till closing.
Anyone who worked that hard and that long deserves a bit of comfort for once.
I'd never come across young people so bitter about what the older generation have before I came on MN. I hope that some of you realize that life is more comfortable now than it was back then for them. Things we take as normal and expect were big luxuries. Even I grew up with no heating only in one room, limited hot water, less food, no car, no money for anything but necessities, no/very little maternity leave, earning less than a man in the same job etc etc etc.
Stop whining, those boomers raised you, you are whining about your own parents and grandparents. If you want what they have you have to work for it.

Baddz · 10/02/2015 14:24

Ahem.
I am 42 and I grew up poor. No Central heating, double glazing or indoor toilet until I was 13/14.
What's your point?

FaFoutis · 10/02/2015 14:31

If you want what they have you have to work for it

What do you think we are doing? But most of us won't get anything like it.

I'm 43, I grew up poor too, I liked having an outside toilet and I am an expert fire-lighter. I'm not poor now and I'm not bitter in the least.

FaFoutis · 10/02/2015 14:36

Rethinking that, I am a bit bitter. I miss my grandparents and their lovely modest and kind generation.

It may be because I live and work among only wealthy boomers and I don't know any poor ones, but I think my generation drew the short straw in having to put up with them.