This we have seen before. "Get the youth and the elders fighting each other for scraps and we can screw them both."
Gene On Jul 12, 2015, at 4:15 AM, Hinrich Kuhls <[email protected]> wrote: > Aristotle's depravity of youth fallacy: > "When I look at the younger generation, I despair of the future of > civilisation." (attributed to Aristotle, 384-322) > > Greek Referendum 2015: “NO” voter demographics > > 18-24: 85% > 15-34: 72.3% > 35-44: 67.4% > 45-54: 69.2% > 55-64: 59.4% > 65+: 44.9% > > +++ > > Cameron's 2015 declaration of war on young people > > How did young people vote at the 2015 UK general election? > http://www.if.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/How-did-young-people-vote-at-the-2015-general-election.pdf > > UK ‘failing its young’ as gulf grows between generations > Under-30s fall back sharply in ‘fairness index’, fuelling backlash against > George Osborne’s budget > By Tracy McVeigh and Toby Helm > The Observer > Saturday 11 July 2015 20.08 > http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/11/uk-young-fairness-george-osborne-budget > > The prospects for young Britons have deteriorated sharply since the Tories > entered government in 2010 as money and resources have been targeted at the > older generation, according to a devastating new report by economists. > > The latest findings of the Intergenerational Foundation, to be published this > week, highlight a sharply widening gap on its “fairness index” between people > under 30 and those over 60. > > The report illustrates how the younger generation is increasingly paying the > price for supporting those already in, or approaching, older age as the cost > of > funding their pensions and healthcare rises. > > Since 2010, the report shows, there has been a 10% decline in young people’s > prospects across a range of measures including housing, education, health, > income and debt. It comes amid a growing backlash from young people against > George Osborne’s budget last week in which he announced welfare cuts that will > hit many young families, ended automatic entitlement to housing benefit for > those aged 18 to 21, and replaced maintenance grants for students with a loan > system. Osborne also unveiled plans for a new “national living wage” that will > rise to £9 an hour by 2020, giving millions of people a pay rise. But it will > not apply to those under 25. > > The bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev David Walker, raises deep concerns over > the > effect of the budget on poorer families, particularly those with children. > While > he welcomed the national living wage, he described as a “huge leap backwards” > the cuts in tax credits for those trying to make ends meet, often taking > several > jobs at once. > > The bishop, writing for the Observer online, says: “It asks those already > struggling to keep their heads above water to take on an extra burden. Bad > enough we were thinking about those of working age, but that is to forget the > real losers from the tax credit cutbacks. The number of children who will be > adversely impacted by the budget change is almost certainly above the number > of > adults.” > > Young people who tried to climb the ladder out of poverty found there was no > route to do so. “In Britain in 2015, for far too many households, work has > ceased to be the escape route from poverty.” > > The report will show a worrying picture of a society that is piling debt on > young people while denying them educational opportunities and the prospect of > buying their own homes. It will show that levels of spending on education as a > proportion of GDP have fallen steadily since 2010, from 5.95% to 5.28%, while > levels of participation in higher education have also declined. > > The number of houses built fell to 140,000 in 2014, a level that the > foundation > says is “pitifully low” and a main reason, along with stagnating wages between > 2010 and 2014, for rising prices which make buying a home unaffordable for > many > young families. > > Despite the rosy picture painted by the chancellor, the report says that the > number of young people out of work is three times higher in the UK than in > Germany. By contrast the cost of healthcare and pensions for the elderly rises > exponentially. > > Commenting on the report, a former World Bank economist Professor Lawrence > Kotlikoff said inequality between old and young was the “moral issue” of the > day. > > “The foundation’s vitally important index makes it clear that the UK is > failing > its young,” he said. “The UK, like other developed economies, has engaged in > fiscal, educational, health and environmental child abuse.” > > Angus Hanton, co-founder of the foundation, said the situation would be > exacerbated by the budget. “One of the things we’re doing is drawing to the > attention of the older generation exactly what they are doing. Unfortunately > human nature means people think ‘We did something to deserve our comfortable > lives, we’re entitled’ – and the baby boomers are experts at that. A lot of > people have a moment of dawning, when they start joining the dots. A lot of > politicians are very aware of what’s looming, but they won’t dare say it.” > > On Saturday a campaign group called Youth Fight for Jobs took their tents and > placards to Parliament Square in London to protest at what they said was a > government “declaration of war on young people”. One of the organisers, Ian > Pattison, said the budget was an attempt to “snatch our future”. Pattison > added > that “the grim outlook of increasing hardship for young people stands in stark > contrast with Osborne’s treatment of the rich. We’re erecting tents to > highlight > the devastating effects of housing benefit cuts on vulnerable young people.” > > Following the budget, Andy Burnham, seen by many as the favourite to be the > next > Labour leader, wrote to every party member insisting that the living wage > should > apply to young people. Burnham said that the budget “divided young from old” > and > “represents everything that’s wrong with Westminster politics”. > > He added: “What possible justification can there be for excluding under-25s > from > the ‘national living wage’?” > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
