Living beyond our means, or just poverty?

[Anna B]

Oh for hevens sake Anna get a grip with the basics. You know full well why funeral expenses have increased over the years just like everything else.

 

Wages form part of a businesses' overheads. Increase one element and it has an impact on everything else. That then has an impact on the overall costs of the goods or service supplied which in turn has an impact on the base costs of goods and services that other businesses are required to purchase to make / sell / provide their own product and services....

 

...that then has an impact on the total price us consumers have to pay for the goods and service we want to purchase. We consumers bemoan that we are not getting as much for our money and demand pay rises....

 

...round and round and round it goes.

 

As for millenials being "angry" - For what exactly?

 

The majority of millenials have had a better start in life with better financial support, benefits, healthcare, education, lifestyle choices, freedoms, scope to travel and advances in technology that those nasty evil greedy Baby Boomers could only dream of.

 

I think the real queston to be asked is what exactly has changed?

 

Is it really a dramatic distopian vision of even increasing "hardship" against our poor old young folk OR is it simply a disease of entitlement syndrome with a side dose of "unrealistic expectations"

 

The answers are far more complex than what will be set out in your (very carefully selected) opinion piece.

 

Its a very old saying that the only thing guaranteed in life is that you are going to die. Sensible people plan for it and prepare for it. Its that issue of taking responsibility again.

 

Your last point is interesting, infact the playwright Alan Bennet classed is as the most important paradox ever, in that we will all die, but have to live together in the interim.

 

Thank you for explaining the bleeding obvious so carefully...

 

The world has changed since the financial crash. Not so much if you were already well established, but the millenials weren't ,and have born the brunt. That's why they're angry

 

http://washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/10-charts-show-much-worse-just-last-economic-crisis.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check/2013/oct/02/poor-richer-poverty-living-standards

Edited August 5, 2018 by nikki-red
fixed the quote

[catmiss]

I'm probably of an older generation than a lot of the people debating this issue and my view might be quite controversial but if I can't afford to buy something outright I go without until I've saved up enough to buy it. I've had to cut corners to be able to afford a new fridge and washing machine but wouldn't get into debt to get the item quicker. I see too many people get their wages and go out spending and then live three weeks of the month using credit cards to fund expenditure but only paying the repayments. I was brought up, and still do, to pay my way through the month and if there's anything left I save half and, if I want, spend the rest. I've tried to pass this onto my kids but they treat me as a dinosaur and live month to month, but come to me when they get an unexpected bill or something breaks down. The recent report of food banks asking for extra support for parents on free school meals during holiday periods made me baulk. As a single parent on benefits for 2 years I saved £5 a week for Christmas, birthdays and school holidays- going out to a different Sheffield park every day with a packed lunch

[hackey lad]

That's all well and good but what happens when you need your spray tan topping up , your nails redoing ,hair extensions or another new tattoo

[Anna B]

I'm probably of an older generation than a lot of the people debating this issue and my view might be quite controversial but if I can't afford to buy something outright I go without until I've saved up enough to buy it. I've had to cut corners to be able to afford a new fridge and washing machine but wouldn't get into debt to get the item quicker. I see too many people get their wages and go out spending and then live three weeks of the month using credit cards to fund expenditure but only paying the repayments. I was brought up, and still do, to pay my way through the month and if there's anything left I save half and, if I want, spend the rest. I've tried to pass this onto my kids but they treat me as a dinosaur and live month to month, but come to me when they get an unexpected bill or something breaks down. The recent report of food banks asking for extra support for parents on free school meals during holiday periods made me baulk. As a single parent on benefits for 2 years I saved £5 a week for Christmas, birthdays and school holidays- going out to a different Sheffield park every day with a packed lunch

 

I agree, but what annoys me is that there has been no incentives for savers for over 10 years, with interest rates at almost 0%. Meanwhile borrowing money has never been cheaper.

 

Consequently borrowing is now at the highest level it's ever been, to the point where it could spark a new financial crisis.

 

Why is the government sitting by, while the banks encourage bad habits?

[chakademus]

Oh for hevens sake Anna get a grip with the basics. You know full well why funeral expenses have increased over the years just like everything else.

 

Wages form part of a businesses' overheads. Increase one element and it has an impact on everything else. That then has an impact on the overall costs of the goods or service supplied which in turn has an impact on the base costs of goods and services that other businesses are required to purchase to make / sell / provide their own product and services....

 

...that then has an impact on the total price us consumers have to pay for the goods and service we want to purchase. We consumers bemoan that we are not getting as much for our money and demand pay rises....

 

...round and round and round it goes.

 

As for millenials being "angry" - For what exactly?

 

The majority of millenials have had a better start in life with better financial support, benefits, healthcare, education, lifestyle choices, freedoms, scope to travel and advances in technology that those nasty evil greedy Baby Boomers could only dream of.

 

I think the real queston to be asked is what exactly has changed?

 

Is it really a dramatic distopian vision of even increasing "hardship" against our poor old young folk OR is it simply a disease of entitlement syndrome with a side dose of "unrealistic expectations"

 

The answers are far more complex than what will be set out in your (very carefully selected) opinion piece.

 

Its a very old saying that the only thing guaranteed in life is that you are going to die. Sensible people plan for it and prepare for it. Its that issue of taking responsibility again.

 

To be fair we never had it so good. Expectations have increased. Yes theres inequality but general level of living is high.

[The Joker]

If you dont travel a great deal you may have seen benefit street on tv, obese parents full of tattoos and smoking there heads off and, complaing society does not give them enough money. if you need this proving have a walk round S5 and woodthorpe.

 

In S5, they’re all bloody cockneys.

 

The London councils can’t afford to pay out £1200 a month rent for an ex-council house so they’re just sending the problem families up the M1 and dumping them up here on our doorstep

[ECCOnoob]

Thank you for explaining the bleeding obvious so carefully...

 

The world has changed since the financial crash. Not so much if you were already well established, but the millenials weren't ,and have born the brunt. That's why they're angry

 

http://washingtonsblog.com/2015/03/10-charts-show-much-worse-just-last-economic-crisis.html

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check/2013/oct/02/poor-richer-poverty-living-standards

 

Errm. Millennials have been around since the early 80s. By the time the financial crisis happened in 2007 many of them were in their 30s and already "established".

 

I repeat. They have had better financial support, better education opportunities, better work opportunities, better healthcare, better freedoms in the early stages of their lives than any of the baby boomers in the 50s + 60s would have dreamed of.

 

"Born the brunt" my backside.

 

What I will concede is that the changes in expectations has had some dramatic effect. That I feel has been primarilly caused by the pressure selling of university attendance and changing it from being a thought out and considered ability/job benefit decision to what is seen by most of the younger generation these days as some routine right of passage.

Edited August 5, 2018 by ECCOnoob

[El Cid]

To be fair we never had it so good. Expectations have increased. Yes theres inequality but general level of living is high.

 

We have had growth in most years for the past few decades, but back in the 1980s PPP growth would rise by around 500 pts per year, but in recent years PPP growth is around 100 pts per year; we are falling behind other countries.

 

Gross Domestic Product, based on the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) methodology, not on market exchange rates. Values are given in USDs. These notional figures have been taken from the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook (WEO) Database, April 2017 Edition.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_past_and_projected_GDP_(PPP)

[Anna B]

I understand Millenials to be those who came of age aroung the Millenium, 16? 18? 21? So wouldn't have had much time to become established by the time of the crash, but time enough to get into lots of debt when you think of how much credit was being thrown around in that period, as if it would never end....

[Cyclone]

Errm. Millennials have been around since the early 80s. By the time the financial crisis happened in 2007 many of them were in their 30s and already "established".

I can do that maths. 1980 to 2007, means that the very oldest millenial was 27, not in their 30's.

I was in my 30's, just, and my generation is either end of X or Xennial (a transition generation between X and Millennial).

 

I repeat. They have had better financial support, better education opportunities, better work opportunities, better healthcare, better freedoms in the early stages of their lives than any of the baby boomers in the 50s + 60s would have dreamed of.

And now they have higher housing costs than the boomers had ever thought of.

The boomers were mostly approaching retirement by 2007, or retired already.

They already owned homes outright (not all of course, but a large proportion) and if they had a career, they were well established, experienced and probably senior.

 

"Born the brunt" my backside.

I can't speak for your backside, but yes, Millennials suffered the most in the financial crisis, followed by X, and boomers suffered the least.