That old guy stole my future (and other animals)

[MintTrav]

The lighting of the flame may just be the best thing ever. At a time when, economically, the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old, it was symbolic to have the old Olympians pass their chance to lit the flame on to the young.

Sorry to be dim, but I don't understand the bold bit Andrew. Would you mind explaining?

The old bought their houses cheap, pocketed the huge rise in the value of their homes, and yet now the young are having to pay higher taxes to pay for the pensions of the old, when the young themselves will get a pension of zero.

I have to laugh at myself. This has been playing on my mind all night.

The whole mindset of someone making a comment like this tilts me beyond belief.

"the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old"

With the greatest respect, that has to rank as one of the most profoundly stupid remarks I've ever heard. It epitomises what is wrong with the world today.

What about the old who fought in two world wars? The old who cycled to work every day for 50 years because owning a car was beyond their means? The old who lived without central heating and had a 'proper' wash once a week in a tin bath in front of the fire? The old who took one weeks holiday a year on a coach trip to Skegness?

Are they the same old who die and leave all their possessions, along with a better world and better opportunities, to their children?

Not many of those 'Old' could afford to bet a weeks wages on a hand of cards, or fly to Vegas for a month-long drinking and gambling spree.

And handed it on a plate to the younger generation who just got greedier and greedier imo

When I say this I'm working on the premise that the old are my Grandparents and Great Grandparents and the young being my Mother and Fathers' generation

Geo

That's the thing. I read AndrewT's 'old' as obviously meaning older, ie the current middle-aged or those approaching retirement. Red-Dog and you have converted his "old" to mean the old old. You seem to be in agreement about the middle-aged.

[TightEnd]

Andrew was referring to the 50-60 year old's now, I think? the post war  "baby boomers" who've leveraged us all up and mortgaged the future etc etc

[Geo the Sarge]

The lighting of the flame may just be the best thing ever. At a time when, economically, the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old, it was symbolic to have the old Olympians pass their chance to lit the flame on to the young.

Sorry to be dim, but I don't understand the bold bit Andrew. Would you mind explaining?

The old bought their houses cheap, pocketed the huge rise in the value of their homes, and yet now the young are having to pay higher taxes to pay for the pensions of the old, when the young themselves will get a pension of zero.

I have to laugh at myself. This has been playing on my mind all night.

The whole mindset of someone making a comment like this tilts me beyond belief.

"the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old"

With the greatest respect, that has to rank as one of the most profoundly stupid remarks I've ever heard. It epitomises what is wrong with the world today.

What about the old who fought in two world wars? The old who cycled to work every day for 50 years because owning a car was beyond their means? The old who lived without central heating and had a 'proper' wash once a week in a tin bath in front of the fire? The old who took one weeks holiday a year on a coach trip to Skegness?

Are they the same old who die and leave all their possessions, along with a better world and better opportunities, to their children?

Not many of those 'Old' could afford to bet a weeks wages on a hand of cards, or fly to Vegas for a month-long drinking and gambling spree.

And handed it on a plate to the younger generation who just got greedier and greedier imo

When I say this I'm working on the premise that the old are my Grandparents and Great Grandparents and the young being my Mother and Fathers' generation

Geo

That's the thing. I read AndrewT's 'old' as obviously meaning older, ie the current middle-aged or those approaching retirement. Red-Dog and you have converted his "old" to mean the old old. You seem to be in agreement about the middle-aged.

I had removed my post as I decided it probably didn't belong in the opening ceremony thread, but yeah, I agree

Geo

[Geo the Sarge]

Andrew was referring to the 50-60 year old's now, I think? the post war  "baby boomers" who've leveraged us all up and mortgaged the future etc etc

And I believe it was slightly before that, my mother and fathers generation, is where it began.

Was Danny Boyle clever enough to be saying just this? We built it, we broke it, now lets make sure we give the youngsters of today who have been so badly let down the opportunity and support  to rebuild it again

Geo

[Woodsey]

The lighting of the flame may just be the best thing ever. At a time when, economically, the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old, it was symbolic to have the old Olympians pass their chance to lit the flame on to the young.

Sorry to be dim, but I don't understand the bold bit Andrew. Would you mind explaining?

The old bought their houses cheap, pocketed the huge rise in the value of their homes, and yet now the young are having to pay higher taxes to pay for the pensions of the old, when the young themselves will get a pension of zero.

I have to laugh at myself. This has been playing on my mind all night.

The whole mindset of someone making a comment like this tilts me beyond belief.

"the youth have been robbed of their futures by the old"

With the greatest respect, that has to rank as one of the most profoundly stupid remarks I've ever heard. It epitomises what is wrong with the world today.

What about the old who fought in two world wars? The old who cycled to work every day for 50 years because owning a car was beyond their means? The old who lived without central heating and had a 'proper' wash once a week in a tin bath in front of the fire? The old who took one weeks holiday a year on a coach trip to Skegness?

Are they the same old who die and leave all their possessions, along with a better world and better opportunities, to their children?

Not many of those 'Old' could afford to bet a weeks wages on a hand of cards, or fly to Vegas for a month-long drinking and gambling spree.

Well I hope the young get over the trauma of being robbed, and I hope those who raised (and robbed) them are suitably contrite.

Wake up and smell the roses Andrew. You never had it so good.

Spot on, said way batter than I ever could.

[doubleup]

Andrew was referring to the 50-60 year old's now, I think? the post war  "baby boomers" who've leveraged us all up and mortgaged the future etc etc

well as one of the 50-60s I disagree.  The vast majority of government debt has built up over the last few years due to the financial crisis/recession.  When I left uni, Thatcher destroyed most of the jobs in Scotland and plenty elsewhere in the UK.  She created two inflationary spikes that did boost house prices but were accompanied by horrendous interest rates. 

There is a dreadful problem with youth unemployment all over Europe and this has been exacerbated by the collapse in private pension values/benefits meaning that less people are retiring (this wouldn't be a problem if the economy was strong. in fact it would be desirable to keep productive workers contributing).

People can't get mortgages because banks have tightened up their criteria, so instead of lying about their income they have to prove it.  Until property prices reduce relative to income, there is always going to be a problem, particularly in the South East. 

[AndrewT]

Yeah, it was baby boomers, those retiring now, who became adults in the 60s and melted the ice caps.

Still, at least my overly dramatic phrasing got Red-Dog woken up.

[bobAlike]

I blame the old folk, living way too long now I tell ya.

[RED-DOG]

Yeah, it was baby boomers, those retiring now, who became adults in the 60s and melted the ice caps.

Still, at least my overly dramatic phrasing got Red-Dog woken up.

[EvilPie]

Yeah, it was baby boomers, those retiring now, who became adults in the 60s and melted the ice caps.

Still, at least my overly dramatic phrasing got Red-Dog woken up.

Both my parents are 65 this year. My mother in January and my father in October.

They stretched themselves to the absolute limit to buy the most expensive house they could afford. They struggled through 15%+ interest rates to pay their mortgage. They had nothing on credit other than their house and saved hard for everything they ever owned.

They are going to have a comfortable retirement thanks to all this hard work and I have no problem with that. They are also likely to leave a sizable inheritance for myself and my sister at some point.

I believe that my generation (I'm 37) has been incredibly lucky to have parents who have been able through hard work to help their children and provide for future generations.

The young of today are probably just going to blow the inheritances that their parents / grand parents worked hard for and have nothing left to leave to their own children.

What you said Andrew wasn't overly dramatic, it was complete gash.

[neeko]

Ceremony was great.

AndrewT is completely right.

[Jon MW]

Yeah, it was baby boomers, those retiring now, who became adults in the 60s and melted the ice caps.

Still, at least my overly dramatic phrasing got Red-Dog woken up.

Both my parents are 65 this year. My mother in January and my father in October.

They stretched themselves to the absolute limit to buy the most expensive house they could afford. They struggled through 15%+ interest rates to pay their mortgage. They had nothing on credit other than their house and saved hard for everything they ever owned.

They are going to have a comfortable retirement thanks to all this hard work and I have no problem with that. They are also likely to leave a sizable inheritance for myself and my sister at some point.

I believe that my generation (I'm 37) has been incredibly lucky to have parents who have been able through hard work to help their children and provide for future generations.

The young of today are probably just going to blow the inheritances that their parents / grand parents worked hard for and have nothing left to leave to their own children.

What you said Andrew wasn't overly dramatic, it was complete gash.

Well that's the problem with using individual examples to make a point. A sample size of 1 is pretty statistically insignificant - I'm sure other blonde-ites can increase that sample size to double figures - but it's still pretty irrelevant.

The whole world has got richer - so in a sense everybody's life is getting easier. But again, just from the economist point of view (i.e. a sample size of 70,000,000 instead of 7) the public money spent in the 50's and 60's (in particular) and partly the 70''s and 80's is what is going to cause the future generations a problem.

Your post exemplifies the view that the older generation got where they are by hard work  and the younger generations are going to blow it all by idleness - but there's much bigger macroeconomic forces at work which decided and decide both of those outcomes.

[Jon MW]

...

Both my parents are 65 this year. My mother in January and my father in October.

They stretched themselves to the absolute limit to buy the most expensive house they could afford. They struggled through 15%+ interest rates to pay their mortgage. They had nothing on credit other than their house and saved hard for everything they ever owned.
...

If you want a specific reason as to what the difference is.

A couple now could stretch to themselves to the absolute limit - and they wouldn't be able to afford any house.

They wouldn't be able to struggle with 15% interest rates because they probably wouldn't be given a mortgage.

[Acidmouse]

Yeah, it was baby boomers, those retiring now, who became adults in the 60s and melted the ice caps.

Still, at least my overly dramatic phrasing got Red-Dog woken up.

Both my parents are 65 this year. My mother in January and my father in October.

They stretched themselves to the absolute limit to buy the most expensive house they could afford. They struggled through 15%+ interest rates to pay their mortgage. They had nothing on credit other than their house and saved hard for everything they ever owned.

They are going to have a comfortable retirement thanks to all this hard work and I have no problem with that. They are also likely to leave a sizable inheritance for myself and my sister at some point.

I believe that my generation (I'm 37) has been incredibly lucky to have parents who have been able through hard work to help their children and provide for future generations.

The young of today are probably just going to blow the inheritances that their parents / grand parents worked hard for and have nothing left to leave to their own children.

What you said Andrew wasn't overly dramatic, it was complete gash.

agreed..very simialir to my parents..

[AndrewT]

I might designate Jon MW as my official point makerer as he's better at it than I am.

The baby boomers had decent education, free university tuition, stay at home mums (one breadwinner enough to pay for house/family - not in luxury but enough to get by), greater job security (through stronger unions) and a welfare state that was more than just a safety net (the dole could afford a better standard of living than it does today).

Of course there are plenty of individual cases where people worked very hard, but that work was proportionally rewarded more than it is today. My dad was able to buy a house and raise a family of 4 boys with a wife who didn't work and stayed at home to look after the kids. We weren't rich or anything but we didn't starve, had new clothes, and I was still able to find a bike or a Super Nintendo under the tree on Christmas morning. My dad was an uneducated manual worker - driving a lorry delivering concrete. And yet he was able to provide for all of us. A similar situation is just not going to happen today - that same family would be on the breadline on housing benefit. That's the difference.