To be so sick of anyone who earns a 'decent' wage being demonised by those who don't?

[sickofthis]

OK, I am very probably REALLY going to regret this, but it is getting to me, the number of threads at the moment that seem to think if anyone earns a decent wage (over £50K) they are somehow responsible for the downfall of the economy and are greedy etc.,

It's cobblers.

The truth of the matter is the housing market has grown too far too fast and too many people have borrowed beyond their means on the back of thier houses (which now aren't worth what they thought they were)

Yes, some banks took too many risks and are paying the price but this does not mean ALL bankers are greedy, horrid people. Just like all property developers (who, by the way, have made lots of money from the property boom) aren't either.

But, some people took far too many personal risks to buy material stuff they didn't need. That makes them JUST as culpable.

The housing market needs to cool off. When ordinary good people can't buy a reasonable house, there is something wrong with the pricing strategy and, one way or another, it's going to be corrected.

Hi Anna8888 - 'not the whole truth'... Perhaps. The format of these boards demands a brevity which undermines attempts at complexity, I agree.

But I don't see that what you've written denies what I wrote. Opportunity/freedom - the same, no? Still predicated on the fact that others *won't^ (at the same time) have that opportunity/freedom - otherwise the system wouldn't function.

On a lighter note, I am currently unfree to go to the cinema, because my DD is free to nap. Humph, godammit. Her freedom dependent on my unfreedom. I am missing Changeling. Grrr.

yawn yawn yawn

"The truth of the matter is the housing market has grown too far too fast and too many people have borrowed beyond their means on the back of thier houses "

that'll teach them!

Well, I think that in many/most jobs/lifestyles there are opportunities for self-advancement if you really look for them. Oppression can only really be talked about when people are in dire situations from which there is absolutely no escape, either now for themselves or for future generations - slave classes or the Indian caste system come to mind.

Don't be so defeatist, Penthesileia . DD naps and the cinema are entirely compatible IME. There is an opportunity there, if you dare take it...

LOL, Anna8888. You are right: I am a slave to the nap...

And indeed, she has woken, so I am offski - only missing the first 1/2 hour!

Hope you enjoy it

I don't think high earners are demonised....I think whingeing high earners are and rightly so....its insulting when you are genuinely struggling to read a post saying 'we cant live on 150k'. I am aware that everyones costs have gone up but the high earners are having to give up waitrose, sky tv, fancy holidays, fresh flowers etc and the low earners ae having to choose between heating and eating.

MN is so up its own arse sometimes.....I got A's in my A'levels from an avergae secondary and was the first person in my family to go to university. I didnt have a clue which uni to go to - no one told me which was better or pointed me in the direction of what type of degree would lead on to a well paid job. So I went to an average uni and did a psychology degree which has proven to be pretty useless.

Connie - i think your post is spot on.

I also did really well at GCSEs and A levels in an area (and school) where most people didn't go to Uni and there was so little helpful advice.

I ended up doing chemistry... Which I find hard to get enthusiastic about now, cos there is no money being an industrial chemist in the UK....

More advice for students starting out on their career would be really useful. Too many schools just want to get kids 'placed' anywhere...

not just me then seriousone - I am actually quite bitter about it but my parents were/ are a secretary and a skilled labourer so to them (and me) a degree was a degree and a university was a university. Careers advice was choose a uni, choose a course.....no one saying actually with these grades you could do xyz........

I agree with Penthesileia.

I don't demonize high earners. I just believe high wages/bonuses should be taxed in a progressive way, regardless of economic crisis.

Don't go watching Changeling if your hormones are still all over the place

Connie - I don't really understand what you are getting at. You seem to be complaining/bitter about having received shit careers advice at school and at home. What's that got to do with this discussion?

Not checked this since posting last night but for those who asked I got flamed for saving child benefit because obviously I didn't need to spend it.

I didn't mention salary or anything else just took part in a thread about what you do with said benefit.

For what its worth I'm not saving up for a Marc Jacobs handbag - it will be given to ds at an unspecified point in the future unless we need it for an emergency in which case he is going ot have to make his own way in the world

Got a bit heated hasn't it? I would like to say that one of things that I do worry about is that we will soon be overun with lawyers/bankers etc. and be left with no nurses or teachers because everyone will be like Xenia.

Also, bankers were not worth their salary for the following reason. They were paid to price risk. I think we can all see that they failed. Their salaries were not dicated by the usual laws of supply and demand they were over inflated by the same sort of expectation led bubble that has also done for the housing market. Investment bankers in particular are a very distinct breed.

Connie/Serious - I was advised in the strongest possible terms by the headmistress at my private school to do science A Levels and a science degree for the sake of a decent, well paid career. I ignored her naturally - now after all these years I feel vindicated by your posts .

Fio, I think she is my new mumsnet hero too. And she looks like this!

Swedes, I think Connie has a VERY good point.

Lots of kids who have very promising exam results just get pushed into mediocre studies and jobs.

SOmeone on here earlier pointed out that connections and Daddy can't get you into law school - but if you aren't even aware law school is an option, it's too late before you realise it... IYSWIM...

In my school, it was far more acceptable to take a YTS, work in Tescos, get PG and move into a council flat than to actually expect to move away and do something DIFFERENT.

I'm not bitter, cos I DID get out, but I'm very aware when I look at my DSDs (who go to a wonderful school) and they are told froma very young age that they can do ANYTHING they want to (from model to explorer - anything). my school was (and I'm pretty sure, still is) very much concerned with maintaining status quo and would prefer to send 10 kids to Teeside Poly and go home at 3:30 than do some research and gets kids into DECENT unis (sorry to anyone who went to Teeside)

I also agree with Penthesileia.

People who deny what she is saying are deluding themselves.

Pentheseila, I think the reason a lot of people struggle with what you are saying is that it's a very bleak and unpalatable argument.

You are probably right though.

Why silly, Anniemac?

my point isn't relaly about my degree, but the fact that in lower class areas (where I grew up and went to school) many of the 'careers advisers' have such low expectations, that the kids don't even expect anything else. Nothing about being pushed into a shit career in Tescos, just that's what your mates are doing, that's what everyone expects, so that's what you do.

One of my best friends at school (who was FAR cleverer than me) lives on benefits with her 3 kids in our home town because, at 16, that seemed like her best option.

I appreciate that is something of a deviation fromthe OP.