Have the Baby Boomers stolen their children’s futures?

In a new twist on the pivotal role of baby boomers in today’s society, David Willetts, the shadow universities and skills secretary, has published a new book claiming that the post-war generation of “boomers” born between 1945 and 1965 have been guilty of a “monumental failure” to protect the future of their children.

In his new book, ‘How the Baby Boomers Stole Their Children’s Futures’, Willetts observes that pensions schemes and property booms have concentrated wealth and power in the boomer generation, and encouraged by the government and banks, “they borrowed as if there were no tomorrow”. At the same time, personal saving rates have declined.

“A young person could be forgiven for believing that the way in which economic and social policy is now conducted is little less than a conspiracy by the middle-aged against the young” says Willett. “I do not believe that this is because the boomers are unusually bad and selfish,” he said. “I think it is rather that we have lost sight of the importance of the contract between the generations that holds any society together.

According to Willetts the “boomers should worry too”…“The repercussions affect everyone. For if it is far harder for the young to get started on the housing ladder, to find a job or to save for the future, they are more dependent on their parents for longer. That in turn means new barriers to the spread of ownership and opportunity: indeed it threatens social mobility altogether”.

I am not altogether sure that suggesting blame in this way is particularly helpful, especially when the section of society targeted are those who are often best placed to help out other family members. Other commentators have started talking about the spectre of “intergenerational conflict” as younger people begin to realise that it is going to be much more difficult for them to amass the sort of wealth that their parents have accumulated. This is surely the last thing we need.

It seems to me that family structures will need to change to meet the challenges of changing demographics in a hostile economic environment. The nuclear family is going to find it very difficult to survive alone and the most successful families will be the ones where wealth, power and responsibility are shared across the generations.