Is the dice loaded against the young?
As the world's economy teeters in the wake of the global financial crisis, and unemployment rises, many young people are rightfully angry, feeling that the dice is loaded against them, and they're starting to lash out, very unfairly, at the generation they feel is responsible for it all – the poor old baby boomers – and Daisy, 65, is hopping mad because she made huge sacrifices to give her two children (now aged 45 and 40) a good start in life, she is now making huge sacrifices to look after her mother, 82, and she wishes younger generations would stop and think before they lash out.
"I didn't have any help when I started out in life," says Daisy. "My parents had nothing, I left school at 15 to start work and it's been ‘slog, sacrifice and save’ for 50 years, and I cannot understand why the young people these days think that we gained what we have at their expense."
"Yes, it’s true that it was very easy to get a job back in the 60s,” admits Daisy, “and in that sense the dice is loaded against today’s young who are competing with machines and a highly educated globalized workforce for jobs – but our ‘good fortune’ came on the back of so many millions of previous generations having been slaughtered or disabled in the war.”
“After the war, there was such a huge labor shortage that the whole population of Jamaica, I think, was shipped in to help Britain rebuild," says Daisy. "So, to blame the current economic situation on the baby boomers is as ridiculous as blaming us for the great depression of the 30s, WWII and multi-racial Britain."
“Some of the same movers and shakers who caused these calamities are still around today, lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings.”
"We're as easy target to blame, I guess, because our ‘generation’ goes on and on getting bigger and bigger, and the first wave of us is now retiring to take life easy," sighs Daisy. "I don't think the young people starting out in the 30s blamed the retiring generation for their woes – they were smart enough to know that a stock market crash caused the great depression – so why do the young people of today ignore the string of events leading up to the current crisis and blame us?"
"Could it be that there was no retiring generation back in the 30s, or that the retiring generation was no better off than anyone else?" asks Daisy. "I really cannot understand why old people of my generation are resented so much – would they be happier if we had nothing?”
"I started my family in the 60s and, having made huge sacrifices to give my kids a better start in life than I had, I deserve to retire easily, or as easily as I can with a mother to look after," says Daisy. "I've done my duty to my kids, I'm continuing to do my duty to my mom, and apart from paying my tax there's absolutely nothing I can do, or should do, on a personal level to help the new generation starting out in life."
"I am not going to apologize for having the good fortune to be starting out in life at a time when jobs were plentiful and life was relatively peaceful – discounting the Korean War, the Vietnam War and all the other stupid wars that we've been involved in since I was born in 1945," says Daisy. "My generation fought in those wars, we didn't cause them; and my generation lost big time in the global financial crisis (in pension funds), and we didn’t cause that either.”
"And, my children are not going to apologize for having the good fortune to be starting out in life in the 80s when life was even better than it was for us when we were starting out in the 60s," says Daisy. "Individually, or as a generation - Boomer or Gen X - we are not responsible for the world's current problems."
"Baby boomers produced the luckiest and most successful generation ever - Gen X," says Daisy, "and we all thought the good times would last forever, but all that unregulated lending to all those no-hopers in the 90s was the downfall of us all – not just the current generation starting out in life."
"The government was asleep at the wheel - it didn't do the job we pay it to do - and it let the sharks loose on all the poor fools out there," sighs Daisy. "And then it bailed out the banks and the masters of the universe with our tax money!"
"If the dice now seem loaded against the young, then perhaps it's worse than it seems because they've been fed a pack of materialistic lies about all the 'trappings' they need in order to start out in life," says Daisy. "If earlier generations held such beliefs, none of us would be here today!"
"Get real kids, and if you must get angry direct it at the government and the masters of the universe and leave us alone."
Read more of Daisy’s stories about this issue:
did the boomers have it all good?
cohorts and generations
growing up in smoggy post-war Britain
vulture circling young estate agents
materialism vs motherhood
snakes and ladders at work
the ponzi welfare system
"I didn't have any help when I started out in life," says Daisy. "My parents had nothing, I left school at 15 to start work and it's been ‘slog, sacrifice and save’ for 50 years, and I cannot understand why the young people these days think that we gained what we have at their expense."
"Yes, it’s true that it was very easy to get a job back in the 60s,” admits Daisy, “and in that sense the dice is loaded against today’s young who are competing with machines and a highly educated globalized workforce for jobs – but our ‘good fortune’ came on the back of so many millions of previous generations having been slaughtered or disabled in the war.”
“After the war, there was such a huge labor shortage that the whole population of Jamaica, I think, was shipped in to help Britain rebuild," says Daisy. "So, to blame the current economic situation on the baby boomers is as ridiculous as blaming us for the great depression of the 30s, WWII and multi-racial Britain."
“Some of the same movers and shakers who caused these calamities are still around today, lurking in the shadows, pulling the strings.”
"We're as easy target to blame, I guess, because our ‘generation’ goes on and on getting bigger and bigger, and the first wave of us is now retiring to take life easy," sighs Daisy. "I don't think the young people starting out in the 30s blamed the retiring generation for their woes – they were smart enough to know that a stock market crash caused the great depression – so why do the young people of today ignore the string of events leading up to the current crisis and blame us?"
"Could it be that there was no retiring generation back in the 30s, or that the retiring generation was no better off than anyone else?" asks Daisy. "I really cannot understand why old people of my generation are resented so much – would they be happier if we had nothing?”
"I started my family in the 60s and, having made huge sacrifices to give my kids a better start in life than I had, I deserve to retire easily, or as easily as I can with a mother to look after," says Daisy. "I've done my duty to my kids, I'm continuing to do my duty to my mom, and apart from paying my tax there's absolutely nothing I can do, or should do, on a personal level to help the new generation starting out in life."
"I am not going to apologize for having the good fortune to be starting out in life at a time when jobs were plentiful and life was relatively peaceful – discounting the Korean War, the Vietnam War and all the other stupid wars that we've been involved in since I was born in 1945," says Daisy. "My generation fought in those wars, we didn't cause them; and my generation lost big time in the global financial crisis (in pension funds), and we didn’t cause that either.”
"And, my children are not going to apologize for having the good fortune to be starting out in life in the 80s when life was even better than it was for us when we were starting out in the 60s," says Daisy. "Individually, or as a generation - Boomer or Gen X - we are not responsible for the world's current problems."
"Baby boomers produced the luckiest and most successful generation ever - Gen X," says Daisy, "and we all thought the good times would last forever, but all that unregulated lending to all those no-hopers in the 90s was the downfall of us all – not just the current generation starting out in life."
"The government was asleep at the wheel - it didn't do the job we pay it to do - and it let the sharks loose on all the poor fools out there," sighs Daisy. "And then it bailed out the banks and the masters of the universe with our tax money!"
"If the dice now seem loaded against the young, then perhaps it's worse than it seems because they've been fed a pack of materialistic lies about all the 'trappings' they need in order to start out in life," says Daisy. "If earlier generations held such beliefs, none of us would be here today!"
"Get real kids, and if you must get angry direct it at the government and the masters of the universe and leave us alone."
Read more of Daisy’s stories about this issue:
Labels: baby boomers, economy, global financial crisis, old people, young people
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