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Are we really poorer than our parents?


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4 hours ago, 917 said:

Who was really better off? Is watching Sky TV with 200 channels showing crap really better than 3 channels showing man landing on the moon? Is Call of Duty better than playing football in the street with your pals?? 

I think that is beside the point.

 

Nobody needs to buy such things.

 

 

Edited by ranger_syntax
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13 hours ago, 917 said:

Interesting topic. Certainly most people nowadays who live in ‘poverty’ in the U.K. are probably ‘wealthier’ than their parents were, in that they can still afford Sky TV, computers, mobile phones, takeaways, and get access to healthcare, etc. That goes for people in work too. 

 

Yet it obviously doesn’t feel like that, as across the west we are seeing votes against the establishment, a desire to turn the clock back, Brexit, make America great again etc. When my parents were young, they didn’t stress about job security or paying the mortgage. You could chuck any job and just walk into another one the next day, so they tell me. Most working class people never owned their house, yet lived in them for generations. My parents owned their flat, but in those days you paid half the price up front, and then paid the rest off directly to the seller over a short number of years (in their case 5). Who was really better off? Is watching Sky TV with 200 channels showing crap really better than 3 channels showing man landing on the moon? Is Call of Duty better than playing football in the street with your pals?? 

 

I would say that the modern generation are better off, due to medical advances. However we probably take these things for granted, whereas ‘baby boomers’      who’s parents had served in the war, were just happy & grateful to be living in peace & relative prosperity. A lot of people will rightfully feel that they don’t have as much freedom as their parents did though, despite having relatively more disposable income.

Good post 917 !

The article in the OP presents a choice for Young Americans between capitalism and socialism, but it ain't that simple.

 

Since WWII, capitalism has brought considerable trickledown benefits but for the ordinary punter, it has to be balanced with social policies that consider the quality of life of all.

 

In the late 70's/early 80's, the style of capitalism changed towards the neoliberal brand and it's this that has basically pushed towards what it says on the tin, ie. push the money flow from bottom to top and from public to private (on steroids). Increasingly buy politicans and the political process. Buy up the media and have very few own it. Deregulate and abuse (eg. banks/leading to 2008).  Make the punter do more for less and cut back on social spending whilst cutting tax for the very rich.

 

It's little wonder that politics is in the place it is in and they have someone like Trump as President. 

The alternative, Clinton and what she was about...reveals a political system that no longer serves the purpose of representing the people. The Democrats have sold their soul long ago.

 

As for where this is going, think about it. 

Real Tyranny or Revolution ?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by buster.
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The problem is that in today’s ‘I want everything’, people look at other people who do have things and think “that’s not fair, I should have that too”, and it gives them a false sense of victimhood.

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3 hours ago, StuGers said:

The problem is that in today’s ‘I want everything’, people look at other people who do have things and think “that’s not fair, I should have that too”, and it gives them a false sense of victimhood.

The problem of scarcity is a dark, and forbidden, concept for some round here.

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