Boomers feeling financial strain of 'boomrang' kids: survey
This topic has been a recurring theme on this blog but in combination with the temporary foreign worker issue with whom the younger generations are competing for work it's about to become very visible. Yes, there's the pension cliff, there's the issue with the flood of retiring boomers, rising health care costs, etc. We all know about that, but when you add up student loans, the increase in fees for students, the massive public debts being put on their backs, the no-interest - high fee bank accounts they have to use, the inability to build real assets, who exactly do you think will be paying for all of the boomer problems?
The youth are screwed six-ways from Sunday today, otherwise the Boomers wouldn't continue having to support them. The boomers in their time collected a lot of wealth and that wealth may for the moment be seeing the younger generations along but it can't last forever.
This presents an even larger problem than I think many people are considering. Today much of Canada's growth resides upon the overpriced housing market and consumer spending and I think because much of the younger generation's costs and spending are subsidized by the older generation we are underestimating the drop off in spending that is going to occur when those subsidies are no longer available, and even worse there will never be any subsidies for the up and coming generation.
Let's not act dumb about where these increased costs have come from, the generation running the show today, privatizing all of the assets that were public for them, speculating in an electronic market at high-frequency speeds which never existed when they used investment to gain their wealth. The reason you're having to pay for your children's lives is really simple, you took too much to begin with and you're continuing to take too much today. Who is in government supporting the temporary foreign workers that our generation competes with? Baby Boomers. Who are at the top of the largest corporations utilizing such workers? Baby Boomers. Who holds the majority of shares in those companies? Baby Boomers. Who has the assets and resources to influence politics? Baby Boomers. Who has the most to gain from low interest rates? Baby Boomers. Who is responsible for the collapse of 2008 in the first place? Boomers. You're in control Boomers and look what you've done with it.
It all probably wouldn't bother me so much if Boomer's didn't then go on and on about how irresponsible and lazy and yada yada the younger generation is, as if their fraudulent debt schemes are "hard work", while pumping more and more of their money into crap like Hollywood and never taking responsibility for the culture they built. This is your culture Boomers, bask in it.
Want to help our generation out? Stop co-signing for loans and start lobbying for a higher interest rate so we can finally save a penny (or is that a nickel now in our worthless currency?). Fight for policies which benefit our economy, not your economy, not your pensions. There won't be any money for your pensions for one simple reason: You took it all already.
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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink
Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.
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