AIBU to think that pensioners are NOT victims?

[SugarMouse1]

Sorry, but they have had about 40 years where jobs were very easy to get

It was comparitively easy for them to buy a house

They could have easily got a council/HA house (where the rent is FA) if they couldn't afford to buy a house......

They should have saved up for their retirement themselves, the taxpayer should not be subsidising them- Young people now can't retire until well into their seventies!

Ahem

Ahem indeed

sugarmouse gets a lot of flak about the washing machine comment. Although I suspect it was tongue-in-cheek, it does expose a germ of hypocrisy.

The parents of today's pensioners would not have had washing machines; these consumer labour-saving devices were the ipods etc. of their day. There's been arguments about how today's youth are 'feckless' in their spending, but I'd suggest it's little more than engaging with modern society. If today's youth are expected to forgo their technology, why shouldn't pensioners be expected to forgo theirs?

oh don't be silly evilkitten. You can't equate labour saving devices with ipods.

Why not? One speeds up the world by doing your washing, freeing you to something else. the other speeds up communication, shortening the time to do business/write letters etc. why is that silly?

My son is glued to his mobile phone. Is that not a labour saving device?

The baby boomers do not define their world as that of their parents; you shouldn't assume that today's youth live in the same world as the baby boomers.

Inflation in the 1970s and 1980s is the root cause of this entire problem.

It allowed boomers to effectivley pay off their mortgages by inflating the debt away but it also pumped up the value of final salary pensions that pay out base don teh final inflated wage someone earns.

Inflation in the 1970s and 1980s allowed boomers to live way beyond their means and accumulate huge housing wealth but at the same time the Govt protected their pension pots from the ravages of inflation.

They won at both ends of their lives.

"In the town I grew up, the two big employers were bought out by US companies that then used the pensions fund to clear asbestos lawsuits (as is legal there): my Dad, who DID pay into a pension all his life, is one of many people who simply watched it disappear"

That is exacly what happened to OH's pension. I wonder if they worked for the same company.

The stupid trivial contrary point of view being espoused by some posters here is just so annoying when youu read about experiences like that.

And he had the double whammy of his Equitable Life pension going belly up as well. So OH is very grateful that he gets free prescriptions and reduced entry into some places.
He doesn't have a bus pass or claim WFA though.

I can't believe some of the comments on here.

Think lots of decided they're not worth the time Bunbaker.

Do you remember how long the government held out over Equitable Life? bstards