OK Boomer; Normal friction or wealth and social inequality symptom

What i suspect is that each segment tells the story that suits it's own self-interest...

 

I wont try to respond to every point specifically but here are few comments....

Full disclosure - I am a white, middle class, male, gen X individual that came from a dirt poor family. I've worked my ass off for what I've achieved. I'm not naive enough to claim that I have not received any advantages that others may not have received though.

1: I totally agree that if you work hard, work smart, get a little lucky, make good decisions, spend less than you earn, etc, etc, etc you will very likely end up being rewarded and becoming successful. The point the author of the linked article (a boomer themselves remember) was trying to make is that boomers had systemic advantages that are unlikely to be repeated and that younger generations will not be able to take advantage of. Simply stating that truth (or admitting it in the case of the author) is not an attack on boomers or a suggestion that any successful boomer "had it easy".

I liken it to "white privilege". Simply acknowledging such a thing exists and wanting to work toward a "fairer" playing field should not be seen as an attack on white people and white males in particular. I freely acknowledge a system in which simply by being born a white male, I had advantages than many other people did not. That doesn't mean I had it "easy" or that every white male did.

Having said all that, should we really sit back and accept a status quo that has systemic advantages accruing "on average" and "in general" to a certain demographic that other demographics do not enjoy? I would argue that we should not and that to attempt to do so will end in tears for all concerned.

2: "I worked really hard and the younger generations are all lazy" - Can we put this very obvious sweeping generalisation to bed. It doesn't add anything to a discussion and there simply isn't any truth to it. It's falsity is easily demonstrable if anyone cares to actually look so I wont even bother posting links.

Nothing in the article even suggested that all boomers "had it easy" and didn't have to work hard for their success. To frame the discussion in such terms is disingenuous at best and completely dishonest at worst.

3: "Adult kids sponging off the parents" - Yep it happens and I'll even admit happens more these days than it has in the past. However, there is a fundamental difference between adults allowing their children to sponge of them and systemic advantages (hugely larger super contribution caps for example) that one generation benefited from that other generations will not. There's also a difference between it and fighting to continue to keep a system that unfairly advantages that same generation. (eg: home being exempt from pension means testing regardless of value)

Anyway, I've said my piece and am not going to get down in the weeds with an argument about boomers versus younger generations so forgive me if I choose not to reply further.

 

Pretty sure the boomers were too lazy to read the article....

 

That was a joke

 

I didn’t.

 

Old people are out of touch, stuck in their ways and just don't get the world is changing.

Young people are entitled, self absorbed, reckless and don't respect their elders.

Pretty sure this conversation has been going on longer than the current boomer-millenial showdown. I can just imagine what those folks who lived through the great depression thought of those long haired hippies taking drugs and trying to change the world (ironically the baby boomers)

Likewise it is just so great to know that one day, 40 years from now, todays righteous, entitled, starry-eyed millennials will be judged in the same way by their kids and grandkids!

 

Stop looking at what you don’t have and start looking what you do have.

 

What Australia desperately needs is a death duty on the Super Rich. Those of us that have accumulated so many times more money than we could ever spend will not need it after passing.
Our kids will not need it as they will be in their 70s if I pass away at my grandfathers age of death.
The world will be divided into the haves and the never will haves in 5-10 generations time if we don’t start dipping into the wealth accumulation of the top 1-2%.
I don’t know how it can be done fairly or equitably. I don’t know how you can do it without destroying long held family businesses but it will be very easy to have 10,000 families owning 90% of the real wealth if we are not careful in future.

 

It was a slight dig at one of my SIL, a Gen X.

One day she came home from work and looked absolutely exhausted. I asked her what was the cause. Her answer was she had just completed a double shift.

I empathised with her by telling her that I had worked a number of doubles when I was doing shift work and there no time for rest as no sooner than you are home, one has to think about getting ready for one’s next shift.

That is when she corrected me and advised that she had done a double four hour shift .

That was some 30 years ago. She still doesn’t like work, still has nothing, lives with a dead-beat, ...

I know a lot of boomers who don’t have much and a lot of Gen Xs, Gen Ys, ... who are doing very well for themselves (far better than me when I was at their age).

I believe success in life has more to do with your attitude, your education, your work ethic, your risk profile, the opportunities you seek/make, ... (things you can change) than the era you were born (something you can’t change).

 

Do genx in sydney and melb, especially, feel like theyve betrayed the revolution now that many became homeowners and benefited from a boom?

 

I think anecdotes are a good measure, because stats can be skewed to a degree either way, whereas real life stories are facts. Not to say it is indicative of everyone in a group, but I've found that lots of anecdotal events turn out to be quite common events for a group.
For example; the "rags to riches" stories are often the young person with nothing, very little help, who worked very hard and made significant various sacrifices and ended up quite rich (or even just comfortable middle-class - which seems rich) by aged 45.
I know lots of those people..all anecdotal though.

 

Totally agree.

Like the proposed Queensland Government Rental Reforms based a survey where 79% of the respondents were tenants .

Would that skew/screw the analysis?

Have we meet ?

You just described me to a tee. Left home at 20 with $50 to my name and now in comfortable (self funded) retirement.

 

you made my point. The survey was skewed and you can see it in the data. The great thing about hard data.

Basing an argument purely off your own personal experience probably takes a pretty narrow view of the topic.

 

My two cents. It's 100% all about mindset.

The older generation who had/developed a certain mindset and subsequent Aha moments, they capitalised on all sorts of opportunities to become successful.

Those of the younger generation who have also been enlightened to a similar mindset are also working very hard ( and smart) to be successful.

Imho without a shadow of a doubt, your dominant mindset and the philosophical agenda you ascribe to will be the overwhelming determining factors in how your life plays out in Australia.

 

Throughout the ages the older generation has mostly been wealthier - they are closer to the end of their journey whereas the younger generation were/are just starting.

The younger generation recognised this, got on with their lives and built their own futures. They looked to their elders with respect sought advice and aspired to follow in their footsteps.

The difference today is the jealousy of some of the younger generation - they see what older people may have and want it NOW! And as their birthright, not recognising the sacrifices and hard work that the older generation did to get to where they are today. Some cherry-pick and scream about advantages the older people may have enjoyed, while turning a blind eye to the disadvantages they overcame.

As always, times change. Today’s generation can either whinge about what they are missing out on, or look around and take advantage of this new world they inhabit. Their future is in their own hands, as it has always been.

(Those inheriting vast wealth are an exception!)

 

I'm 37, so by no means a boomer, but I have to admit that I've had it easier than an 18 year old starting out today.
I had to study for a total of 3 days to get into engineering at one of Australia's premier engineering Universities, as the UAI required was a mere 75.
I also walked into a job after uni, having had two job offers (including one where I would have earned more than I do now, in Port Hedland).
Borrowing money to buy investment properties was also very easy and I bought my first 4 with an LVR of 95%.

 

But its not an even playing field.....

the unfair advantage..... near impossible to measure.....nothing to do with date you were born

Unfair Advantages

 

I don't think its as straightforward as one generation having it easier or tougher then another. Each generation faces its own challenges. Those challenges just change slightly and vary from generation to generation. Some things are better, some things are worse. In the end it doesn't matter which generation you are, success in any form is going to be 50% luck / 50% hard work and attitude. There are winners and losers in each generation.

 

Quote..
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https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ls8pDgAAQBAJ&hl=en_US&pg=GBS.PT9.w.0.0.412



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