Isn’t the ‘wealth-hoarding boomers’ stereotype a distraction from the super-rich? Is it another ‘divide-and-rule’ tactic?
I think so.
(See the video clip of this article here.)
It arises from a new report (yes, another one – this from the Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee) suggesting that “ageist stereotyping” is characterising older people as stockpiling wealth while younger generations struggle.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The BBC tells us
The [report says the] portrayal was normalising “ageist attitudes” [and criticises] depictions of baby boomers – those born between 1946 and 1964 and now in their 60s and 70s – as either frail or enjoying a life of luxury at the expense of their children and grandchildren.
The report also hits out at what the authors say was a failure by previous governments to address digital exclusion of older people as services, particularly around banking and health, increasingly move online.
It also said discussion of intergenerational fairness tended to “pit younger and older generations against each other in a perceived fight for limited resources”.
It is true that the older generation is known to have been more prosperous than – for example – This Writer’s (I’m 55 – Generation X). But this is because of the rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s, that led to the Thatcher government and all those that came after.
Those governments took wealth and opportunities away from working class people and sold off public utilities into the private sector, meaning people who were already rich were able to hoard wealth while the rest of us found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
But you don’t have to be a baby boomer to be super-wealthy.
So the report is right – up to a point.
My issue with it is that it fails to acknowledge that people are right to feel aggrieved that their prosperity – and opportunities to achieve it – have been taken from them and given to people who don’t deserve those things because they already had them.
The rising inequality is typified by the situation we see in the image accompanying this article, in which a wealthy man, sitting on a mountain of cookies, distracts a poor person with just one cookie for himself by claiming someone else is trying to take it from him – in this case, an immigrant. But it could be a baby boomer, as described by the report.
I see no proposals in the report to re-focus blame where it belongs – on previous neoliberal governments and on the rich who are genuinely hoarding wealth.
And I see no proposals to re-balance wealth so everybody has a chance to improve their situation.
By saying, “Don’t blame older people for your problems,” the report will leave many people pointing out that somebody must be to blame for them, because they themselves haven’t done anything to cause them.
They will find somebody to blame. And if they aren’t told where the fault really lies – politicians – they’ll probably blame the wrong people.
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Isn’t the ‘wealth-hoarding boomers’ stereotype a distraction from the super-rich?
Isn’t the ‘wealth-hoarding boomers’ stereotype a distraction from the super-rich? Is it another ‘divide-and-rule’ tactic?
I think so.
(See the video clip of this article here.)
It arises from a new report (yes, another one – this from the Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee) suggesting that “ageist stereotyping” is characterising older people as stockpiling wealth while younger generations struggle.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
The BBC tells us
It is true that the older generation is known to have been more prosperous than – for example – This Writer’s (I’m 55 – Generation X). But this is because of the rise of neoliberalism in the 1970s, that led to the Thatcher government and all those that came after.
Those governments took wealth and opportunities away from working class people and sold off public utilities into the private sector, meaning people who were already rich were able to hoard wealth while the rest of us found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.
But you don’t have to be a baby boomer to be super-wealthy.
So the report is right – up to a point.
My issue with it is that it fails to acknowledge that people are right to feel aggrieved that their prosperity – and opportunities to achieve it – have been taken from them and given to people who don’t deserve those things because they already had them.
The rising inequality is typified by the situation we see in the image accompanying this article, in which a wealthy man, sitting on a mountain of cookies, distracts a poor person with just one cookie for himself by claiming someone else is trying to take it from him – in this case, an immigrant. But it could be a baby boomer, as described by the report.
I see no proposals in the report to re-focus blame where it belongs – on previous neoliberal governments and on the rich who are genuinely hoarding wealth.
And I see no proposals to re-balance wealth so everybody has a chance to improve their situation.
By saying, “Don’t blame older people for your problems,” the report will leave many people pointing out that somebody must be to blame for them, because they themselves haven’t done anything to cause them.
They will find somebody to blame. And if they aren’t told where the fault really lies – politicians – they’ll probably blame the wrong people.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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