The economy has shafted millennials: now it wants their offspring too

[CarryOnNurse20]

AIBU to ask your opinion on this article?

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/23/economy-millennials-children-low-birthrate?CMP=fb_cif&fbclid=IwAR1C57OgCdGCGhSr5uVLI5tRVeMCq-eNtyyxEuUiYOjYgSn5P2w3yMHQeTM

As a dreaded millennial and a mother I find it very sad and very true for a lot of people I know.

@duffeldaisy

"I can't see how Gen X has been fucked over at every available opportunity???"

Gen X is a long period of time. For those born closer to the 1980 end of it, grants vanished, loans came in at university and they graduated in a time of recession. While being told by Boomer parents that they weren't trying hard enough, when house prices and cost of living had been rising hugely since the early 70s.

Not saying Gen X had it harder than millennials by any means, but they were the first generation that weren't all able to aspire to previous job security, pensions, mortgages etc.

Yes, I was born in the mid-70s and by the time I went to university, grants had disappeared. Finding a job after graduation wasn't easy - it took me the best part of a year. At least there were no tuition fees.

I was at school during the Thatcher years and my education was dogged by industrial action, teachers working to rule (no trips, no after school activities etc.). I'm not looking to debate the rights and wrongs of that, just stating it as a fact.

I started work in expectation of retiring at 60 - the state retirement age has now risen to 67 and will no doubt rise again by the time I get to 67; meanwhile my private pension has been decimated by economic turmoil for the last 20 years.

Agree Gen X doesn't have it harder than millennials, but we don't have it easy, and you're right that the later you are into Gen X the harder it is.

When I bought my first flat in 1983 it cost me £31000 (London). I was earning £16000 in an office.

The same area would cost between £200000 & £375000 for a 1 bed flat.

Not many 20somethings I know earn £100 - £200k

If young people want us to save the planet then they have to stop having children and buying crap. Otherwise they can shut up and let us live the lives we want to live without the "save the planet" earworm.

@Mirw

If young people want us to save the planet then they have to stop having children and buying crap. Otherwise they can shut up and let us live the lives we want to live without the "save the planet" earworm.

Wow. Would you classify yourself as ‘middle aged people’ or ‘old people’ when making your sweeping generalisation? How do you feel about the fact that with a shrinking young population if the current young generation don’t have children there’s a financial crisis waiting to happen whereby the older generations care and pensions will not be able to be funded. What ‘life do you want to live’?! Throwing away plastic bottles? Excessive long haul travel? Not bothering recycling? It’s YOUR world too. How selfish that it won’t be you directly affected by climate change/issues due to low birth rate. I hope if you have children you at least bear their future in mine when making decisions. This kind of attitude it what triggers the ‘ok boomer’ response and generalisation of how selfish that generation is.

Something else that hasn’t been mentioned as a factor in all this is the abolition of retirement age which has also stopped millennials from progressing in their career as coveted senior positions in many jobs just don’t come up at the same rate.

@Peoniesandpeaches

Something else that hasn’t been mentioned as a factor in all this is the abolition of retirement age which has also stopped millennials from progressing in their career as coveted senior positions in many jobs just don’t come up at the same rate.

Yes, and with what's happened to pensions, this isn't the 60+ workers being selfish - some of them have no choice but to go on working.

If young people want us to save the planet then they have to stop having children and buying crap. Otherwise they can shut up and let us live the lives we want to live without the "save the planet" earworm

Did you miss the part in the OP how young people aren't having children. I'm not sure they have the monopoly on buying crap either.

I’m a millennial. From a far from affluent background. I bought my own house (without help) at 22, it was a wreck and I did it up. I have 2 kids. All of my friends bar 2 couples who rent have their own (mortgaged) house and many have children. For those that don’t, the reason is generally that they’ve not found the right partner, got divorced Or have fertility problems. I only have 2 sets of couple friends who are childless by choice (they both happen to be gay/lesbian). What I think is different in my circle compared to when I was growing up is how many only have (and intend to stay at) 1 child. And I know hardly anyone who has more than 3. It’s not mentioned in the article but number of children as well as choosing not to have children is a big factor in this.

This article is so true.

It’s really hard not to hate the boomers sometimes. They bought their own houses cheaply and had a free uni education. Then they bought up all the houses and became landlords, charged extortionate rents, and completely wrecked the housing market for future generations. As the predominant policy makers, they allowed rents to rise extortionately, and failed to build more houses as they were benefitting from all the rental income.

But if millennials dare complain about working the longest hours in Europe just to pay extortionate rents to live in a tiny flat share, they call us snowflakes and tell us to stop wasting our money on avocado toast.

You’re basically screwed in this country unless you have rich parents or a very high paid job. I’m sure there are many out there who would love a baby but just don’t think they can afford one - it’s heartbreaking.

@lonelyapple

Boomers and the war generation are the most entitled, arrogant, privileged generation on earth. They had almost everything given to them for free. They were able to buy huge family homes on one wage at reasonable prices. They had free university and generous pensions. Now they want the younger generations to sacrifice their health for them too. I really hope a political party comes along that represents the screwed over younger generations and will be absolutely unrelenting in making the boomers pay for their greed and all the damage they have done to society.

Putting it gently, I think you might be wrong.

@XingMing actually she couldn't be more right about Boomers. (I disagree about the war generation).

I doubt the boomers will ever pay for the damage they have caused though. That will be for the younger generations to do.

@Gingerandlemont

This article is so true.

It’s really hard not to hate the boomers sometimes. They bought their own houses cheaply and had a free uni education. Then they bought up all the houses and became landlords, charged extortionate rents, and completely wrecked the housing market for future generations. As the predominant policy makers, they allowed rents to rise extortionately, and failed to build more houses as they were benefitting from all the rental income.

But if millennials dare complain about working the longest hours in Europe just to pay extortionate rents to live in a tiny flat share, they call us snowflakes and tell us to stop wasting our money on avocado toast.

You’re basically screwed in this country unless you have rich parents or a very high paid job. I’m sure there are many out there who would love a baby but just don’t think they can afford one - it’s heartbreaking.

Bastards! How dare they put their financial wellbeing above that of strangers! You know loads of people would still do it of they could. They're just annoyed they can't.

Tbf, isn't it due to the commonplace situation of both partners now working that people can no longer buy a house on one salary? I'm sure this has changed since the boomers days.

I'm a tail end boomer. I didn't come from a wealthy family and my divorced parents are still alive. I have inherited £400 from one grandparent and £3000 from the other grandparents. Everything I see around me I have earned from my own work and my partner's. When I bought a tiny one bed flat at 31, with the deposit I commuted from a pension fund accrued in overseas employment, I paid 9% or more for 15 years on the mortgage. I have one child, born when I was 42.

No sympathy asked or expected, simply some recognition that every generation endures and lives through different difficulties. Boomer generation has not intended to make life tough, but if you want to be microscopically analytical, the generation that were born just before 1935 have missed a lot of the tempests.

There are very hard decisions to be made in every generation. But they are different for every generation.

Then they bought up all the houses and became landlords, charged extortionate rents, and completely wrecked the housing market for future generations. As the predominant policy makers, they allowed rents to rise extortionately, and failed to build more houses as they were benefitting from all the rental income

Bloody hell, I wish someone had told me I’d done all that. I thought I just owned the house I live in.

To be fair its the boomers in charge of policy that attract most of the anger. And the ones with the vile "everyone is just jealous of our money" attitude that @ColorMagicBarbie has.

Yes, most would choose to get ahead given the chance but there are plenty of ways to get rich without trampling over the basic human rights (ie somewhere to live) of others.

Boomers as a generation do seem to show a staggering lack of empathy towards younger generations (eg "if you cant afford a house just don't buy a new iphone" kind of comments). And many do seem ridiculously entitled (But I'm entitled to multiple properties because I WANT THEM FOR MY OWN FINANCIAL WELLBEING!!) Although realise not all are like this.

Boomers had free education, cheap housing, jobs and benefits galore
Now all we hear is that ‘interest rates on mortgages were high though’
So what?! There have been countless studies showing that financially millennials are and will continue to be worse off than boomers.

We don’t care that you had it easier than us, we care that you had so much privilege and now you’re completely ignorant to it and think you got where you are completely because of your own excellence.
…all whilst confusing us with generation Z
And blaming us owning a phone and a tv on the fact we don’t have 25k (the deposit needed for an average Uk house)
which shows some truly terrible maths skills

@Gingerandlemont

To be fair its the boomers in charge of policy that attract most of the anger. And the ones with the vile "everyone is just jealous of our money" attitude that *@ColorMagicBarbie* has.

Yes, most would choose to get ahead given the chance but there are plenty of ways to get rich without trampling over the basic human rights (ie somewhere to live) of others.

Boomers as a generation do seem to show a staggering lack of empathy towards younger generations (eg "if you cant afford a house just don't buy a new iphone" kind of comments). And many do seem ridiculously entitled (But I'm entitled to multiple properties because I WANT THEM FOR MY OWN FINANCIAL WELLBEING!!) Although realise not all are like this.

I'm actually a millennial lol.

I just recognise that boomers grew up in a much tougher world where you had to stand on your own two feet and couldn't call the police if somebody offends you online. Testosterone levels in men have been dropping for decades too. I seem to remember that there was a double figure % decrease from '60s to '80s, and then almost 20% again from '80s to early '00s. Highly likely it's dropped again in last 20 years.

This could well have an impact as it affects men's drive, which is why CEOs are repeatedly shown in studies to have high testosterone levels.

Personally, I think that unless drastic changes are made NOW, world-wide, by the mid-2050s we will have lost most of our ability to grow food, our air and water quality will be abysmal, and it won't much matter.

ArblemarchTFruitbat You perhaps missed the part where I said coveted senior roles (although if you want to talk pensions we could go into how millennials have been more shafted by that too.) I’m not talking about the near minimum wage worker but higher earning senior posts like head of department, chief executive, director type posts. It’s why there are so many jokes about “entry level job only 3-5 years of experience needed.”

@Peoniesandpeaches

ArblemarchTFruitbat You perhaps missed the part where I said coveted senior roles (although if you want to talk pensions we could go into how millennials have been more shafted by that too.) I’m not talking about the near minimum wage worker but higher earning senior posts like head of department, chief executive, director type posts. It’s why there are so many jokes about “entry level job only 3-5 years of experience needed.”

Yes, sorry, I wasn't talking about the coveted senior roles.

I don't disagree that millennials have it worse than gen x on the whole.

Then they bought up all the houses and became landlords, charged extortionate rents, and completely wrecked the housing market for future generations. As the predominant policy makers, they allowed rents to rise extortionately, and failed to build more houses as they were benefitting from all the rental income

Bloody hell, I wish someone had told me I’d done all that. I thought I just owned the house I live in.

I wish someone had told me I'd done all that too. Why have I been renting for the past 20 years when I actually "bought up all the houses and became landlords"?

@EatYourVegetables

www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy/inflation/inflation-calculator

According to this, £7000 in 1974 would be about £74 600 in 2020.

I don’t think there are many houses or flats you can buy today for £74 600, avocado or no avocado.

There are, if you don't live in the south east bubble. Within five miles of me, there are 40 2 bed houses or apartments for less than £80k, more if you include 1 bed or studio. Three beds start at around £70k for a fixer upper. Salaries don't get London weighting, but people can afford to buy homes here. Northwest.

@wellards

If young people want us to save the planet then they have to stop having children and buying crap. Otherwise they can shut up and let us live the lives we want to live without the "save the planet" earworm

Did you miss the part in the OP how young people aren't having children. I'm not sure they have the monopoly on buying crap either.

Agreed about the buying crap thing. I know it's only anecdotal, but my pension aged mother buys more crap than most people. Because she has the funds to do so, house paid off, a large pension that they don't ever spend all of...so she buys lot's of shopping channel crap that she doesn't even use. My parents house is filled with stuff I wouldn't dream of buying (not that I can afford it). Interestingly they grew up in an era or reusing and mending stuff, but that seems to have gone out the window!

Also, out of my aunts and uncles, my parents are the only ones not to own multiple properties. And none of them would have been considered middle class. They all had public service jobs, two of my uncles were postmen, the others worked in the civil service. But they managed to buy investment properties which are now worth a fortune.
My parents bought their house in the early 80's on one wage (my dad was not a high earner or management level, just an average worker), and supported three kids, we had several holidays abroad. That's just not possible now on an average wage, only if you are a CEO or something.

I think the thing is, while they never intended to pull up the ladder behind them, there was always an assumption that things get better for each generation. And it's a hard adjustment to realise that's not the case anymore. I guess it's always easier to level up than level down.

Things like clothes and gadgets are cheaper, but more important things like education and housing are out of more expensive or out of reach for many.

It is depressing to think that me and most of my friends may never own a home of our own, even a small one. Or if we do it will be when our parents die and we inherit, what a depressing thought. And yes, there are places for sale in various parts of the country, but there are no jobs there, certainly no career jobs, little or no public transport, terrible broadband or none at all.