I haven't read all the thread but have read enough to get irritated by people blaming people for having phones or coffees or whatever. Why not just take a look at the actual facts:
In 1975 my Dad (a civil servant) made a huge stretch financially to buy a dilapidated Victorian semi detached in the South East. The cost was £12,000. This was 3 x his salary of £4000. Yes he struggled, they ate baked beans from the tin, no luxuries etc etc. Probably rats and general all round horror and sacrifice.
In 1914 I bought a house in the same town, also a dilapidated Victorian semi. The cost was £458,000. Divide that by 3 and that would require a salary of £152,000.
In the above example it is obvious that the person in my dad's position (31 year old civil servant) today would not be able to afford the house he could afford because house prices have risen so stupidly that normal people in the South East can no longer afford to buy them.
Baby boomers DID struggle, they ate beans, they were poor, but as a result of their sacrifices they were able to get houses that then earned them hundreds of thousands of pounds of house equity.
Young people today can choose to eat beans and sacrifice just as much but they will NEVER EVER be able to afford the same opportunity to make hundreds of thousands of pounds of house equity.
So have some empathy please baby boomers. You had it good. It's not your fault you had it good but you did have it good.