http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2010/feb/10/baby-boomer-pensions-ageing-population
With our ageing population, we must develop policies that achieve a
fair balance between the generations
2/10/10
I believe the heavy impact of this recession on what has been called
the lost generation of young people is part of a wider pattern. In my
new book, The Pinch, I argue that my generation the baby boomers
are in danger of dumping too many problems on the younger generation.
The boomers roughly those who were born between 1945 and 1965
have done, and continue to do, some great things, but now the bills
are coming in, and it is the younger generation who will pay them. We
have a good idea of what at least some of these future costs are: the
cost of climate change, of investing in the infrastructure our
economy will need if we are to prosper, paying pensions when the big
boomer cohort retires on top of the cost of servicing the debt the
government has built up.
I believe that a lot of our social and economic problems arise from a
failure to understand and value the contract between the generations.
Much of what we see as social breakdown is the breakdown of
relations between the generations, much mistrust is between
generations, and much of what has gone wrong with our economy is
failure to get the balance right between generations. This is what
low saving and big deficits are all about, and it is what
environmental degradation is about too. Sometimes, we do not even
appear to understand what we are doing to future generations, and how
much we owe to previous generations.
However, I do not believe that the baby boomers are bad people. But
we are so sensitive to injustice within a generation that the
problem of unfairness between the generations seems to pass us by.
The start of setting this right is just to recognise the issue.
And the next step is, of course, to develop policies that follow.
One obvious example is the importance of tackling the budget
deficit, which imposes a burden on younger workers that is
potentially far greater than any individual student debt they may
have, however burdensome that feels.
There are other ways of achieving a fair balance between the
generations. The government proposed to raise the pension age so
slowly that it was in danger of not even keeping up with the rate of
improvement in life expectancy. The Conservative party has announced
that we need to get started on this sooner. It is a tough decision,
but, with the marvellous improvement in life expectancy, we simply
cannot afford future pensioners being even longer in receipt of the
state pension.
A further challenge is improving social mobility. The post-war
boomers have enjoyed the benefits of a surge in white collar jobs and
the spread of opportunity. It was a real shock when comparisons
between boomers born in 1958 and Generation X people born in 1970
showed a decline in social mobility. We can do better, and that means
imaginative action at every stage of education and beyond.
One of the biggest responsibilities of government is to maintain a
fair balance between the generations. We can, as a nation, do so
much better at discharging that responsibility.
--
David Willetts, Conservative shadow secretary for universities and
skills, is the author of The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took their
Children's Future and Why They Should Give it Back, published by
Atlantic (£18.99).
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