LBC caller rejects view that millennials are worse off than previous generation

'You're missing the point.'
'No, you just don't want to hear it!'
Lewis Goodall and this caller debate whether millennials are worse off than the generation before them.
Listen to the full show on Global Player: l-bc.co/ListenNow
#lewisgoodall #costofliving #LBC
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[@jordanwood3150]

"I'm having to pay my daughters accommodation. My parents didn't have to do that." Jesus Christ, he's almost got it.

[@allip4226]

Obviously she should just cancel her streaming services and stop wasting all her money on avocado toast! 🙄

[@smon4164]

So close, yet so far.

[@MrJadude]

That should have been his lightbulb moment ... lol But alas too ignorant

[@dustybagofelbows]

If wilful ignorance were a person.

[@bannjaxx]

It's like a panto where he keeps turning round and never seeing the point stuck to his back!

[@alanbeaumont4848]

Guy who has to help his daughter out with money doesn't think the younger generation are worse off than he was.

[@spikemonster95]

Exactly, and his generation didn't pay tuition fees if they went to University!

[@FullMetalAsh]

Lol, he even says "My parents didn't have to do that." Mate how can you be that thick.

[@andy1way]

​​@@spikemonster95 His generation went to university only if they exceptional. Very few went and they went for real subjects, not the mindless dross on offer now..

[@spikemonster95]

@@andy1way that may be correct for some courses but don't label them all the same. A degree is a prerequisite for many career paths in today's job market. I also knew people in the 80s that went to Uni and and who completed courses which were realistically, of little value.

[@Pantifaximile]

​@andy1way so they had it even easier in that they didn't actually have to go to university to compete in the job market and could still buy a house.

[@TomKilworth]

“I lost 10 grand on that house” Yeah, I’ve been paying 16 grand a year in rent and only just about able to buy a house now in my 30s with the help of older family members. These boomers are on another planet

[@garyh1572]

It's because of the " I'm alright Jack " attitude .

[@joe94c]

​@garyh1572 or the 'I suffered so you must too' crowd.

[@timcomley5948]

You ain’t first to have it tough

[@matthewjames1114]

Exactly, renters lose every single penny they spend all the time, all while property values increase and the likeliness of ever owning anything slips away

[@MarkRobbo96]

I've found it actually comes from people being defensive, as if people's problems now are minimising the challenges they faced. This of course isn't true, and people did face challenges in the past buying homes, they're just not on the scale of today.

[@PadHicks]

He said it himself: he is having to subsidise his daughter in a way his parents never needed to for him. Is that because she is having an easier life?

[@rogergreen2695]

Gosh I did have it easy. In my time you could get a government grant for going to university. What ever happened?

[@andrewlong6438]

I doubt caller went to university and if he did he would have received a grant. My parents had to pay for a small proportion of my grant but got a scholarship from my dads company. They never had to finance my accommodation.

[@jonnyc429]

Surprised this wasn't picked up on. He's explaining that his daughter is saddled with massive fees his parents didn't pay. He didn't go that extra step and think oh wait, people probably have to pay for these themselves and not have a parent pay...

[@WookiRahh]

@@andrewlong6438 well done you ????

[@highdownmartin]

She has a six hundred pounds a week coffee habit.

[@KyleS3m3noff]

That disconnect between him having to subsidise his daughter "in a way my parents never had to with me" and "nah, they don't have it harder" is astonishing.

[@mrbearbear83]

His daughter is clearly too lazy to work 100 hour weeks while in uni /s

[@hanskneesun123]

@@mrbearbear83 She needs to lay off the avocados and pull herself up by her boot straps /s

[@TheJesselopez1981]

She's probably enjoying her fancy coffees and avocado toast too.

[@RankinMsP]

🤣🤣🤣🤣😭

[@aqm8470]

He is thick

[@rarsebumbaclaat2659]

Facts don't matter to Robert .

[@ruinerblodsinn6648]

"we had enough of experts!" this is the most emotional and irrational generation... and I thought it can't get worse than the TikTok crowd.

[@victricius6788]

Robert has his own facts 😂😂😂😂

[@AB-zl4nh]

I have noticed there's a group if people, who trend mostly older, who deny economic problems that do exist and manufacture cultural problems that do not exist. They usually support Johnson, Le Pen, Trump & Orban.

[@Martooo251]

@@AB-zl4nh They’ll also be the ones crying about ‘mainstream media’ constantly yet watch Fox News or sky news all day. If you give them facts about something that contradicts their talking point they malfunction and just say that’s a msm talking point

[@teamdgr]

Look at him there with all his facts.

[@infidelcastro5129]

“I WANT TO BE THE VICTIM! MAKE ME THE VICTIM!”

[@leonbrooks2107]

I get such 1984 vibes from some of these callers. “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

[@raymondmartini5500]

It's so insidious becuase these boomers' self worth is tied to their material situation. Calls from the young ones saying they have it harder off is essentially an attack on their personhood. If it was unfair that they benefitted so much, and unjust that they should be so far ahead, then consequently, their entire lives are basically a sham.

[@Callie1981]

I couldn't understand doublethink when I was a child reading that book, sadly I understand it all too well now.

[@IRGeamer]

Plus a bit of: “Orthodoxy means not thinking--not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” - George Orwell, 1984

[@atomicclockagency]

The generation above mine are so entitled, they can't even let us have our own financial crisis

[@dh7314]

Superb comment 😂

[@orsikocs]

😂😂😂😂

[@RedcoatTrooper]

The simple fact that applies to this and so many other modern issues "Absolutely nobody wants to admit they were playing the game on easy mode"

[@HShango]

😂😂😂😂 oh jeez

[@Anri6547]

after brexit uk playing hard mode only 🤣

[@7ookee]

It's almost like talking to white people about racism. They can't or don't want to see it if it looks like they're having it easy. Humans eh?, can't be trusted

[@Martooo251]

@@Anri6547 more like survival mode

[@TheSeanj87]

Well their life was hard, because everyone’s life is hard sometimes, but for some reason they can’t admit where they had advantages compared to today. It’s like they’re personally insulted like you’re personally attacking them. Such sensitivity and over identification.

[@tomcrawley3343]

"I lost 10 grand on that house" Sure, but you still owned a house. You owned a home. You weren't at risk of being kicked out on the whim of landlord because that home is yours and you get to decide who lives in it. You're buying a home, not a risk-free investment. If it goes down in value, YOU STILL HAVE SOMEWHERE TO LIVE.

[@andrewlong6438]

I bought my first 1 bed studio flat in 1987 for £45K with an endowment mortgage. I lost £10K on that. I planned ahead and increased my mortgage payments to cover the loss. I am fortunate to have paid it all off. At 61 I am not sure I am a boomer but I do get how difficult it is for renters and mortgage holders.

[@matthorner35]

Imagine having a house paid off and one you can sell for hundreds of thousands to pay for later life care so you can go out with your trotters up and still feeling like a victim. Meanwhile young folks are trying to find 3 grand a month in London to live in a shoe box.

[@abegarfield7031]

It's like complaining about your butler being lazy.

[@Nuggruk]

How about you 'dont live in a London shoe box'. Thats a choice you make, how about you buy / rent something in burbs?

[@otmanh]

@@Nuggruk because the cost of traveling to your work from the burbs would amount to the same cost anyway?

[@matthorner35]

@@Nuggruk depends I guess on if you feel it was fair they you had to move further from work/where you grew up/dreamt of living because you couldn't afford to live in your home.

[@mitsterful]

​@@Nuggruk even in the burbs house prices and rents are too high, and then you'd need a car to travel which costs more money, and even if there was public transport that's really expensive as well

[@canderson1955]

I’m 68 years and fully accept that younger people have had it much harder. I’m still working only to help my two adult children, get by and make progress in their lives as they have had it so hard. You will never convince those of fixed minds like Robert. He is ignorant.

[@bogglefroggle]

Your compassion is truly wonderful and I am sure is very much appreciated. Thank you for having a kind soul.

[@simonstevens5334]

It really saddens me the times we live in, when I was young my late teens and early 20s where all fun and games, I had responsibilities but my working life was far more streamlined and kicked back, I felt I was rewarded for my work aswell, looking at young people now, they have nothing to show for doing the right things, our generation didn't lay the ground work for them, it's shameful how selfish we are.

[@tomheeks2830]

I don't begrudge the opportunities that boomers had, we would all have likely done similar if we were born a few decades earlier. But it'd infuriating when people like this caller and their me me me attitude, wont even acknowledge it.

[@canderson1955]

@@simonstevens5334 I could not agree more. We have let this generation down badly. Not all individuals but the way society was run on our behalf which we benefited from. Even now I have a pension that will not be available to my children. I was able to buy a decent first house at the age of 21 years old. And I was not in a lucrative job. It has taken my children well into their thirties to achieve the same.

[@Steveuploads]

At 68 you need to concentrate on enjoying your final years. Your kids have to look after themselves , how feckless could your offspring be ?

[@smoggyben]

This attitude is so prevalent amongst the older generation. I see it in my dad. If I have a bad day at work, my dads day is 10x worse because he has a more senior role than me. I couldn’t possibly know what a bad day at work is like because his job is more important. Can’t people just accept that other people struggle and empathise with them rather than trying to put them in their place.

[@darrenengland6269]

Many of the older generation cannot see that what they have benefitted from has made their own children struggle.

[@markwilson4690]

💯 exactly!!!

[@sebek23b]

yea because they would felt guilty and if they don't admit it they don't have to feel guilty

[@Alex-cw3rz]

It's fascinating this callers generation has destroyed young people's incomes, voted in policies to increase inequality and now totally deny it.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@andy1way introduction of Neo-liberalism allowing for de-regulation (which caused the financial crisis) and tax rises for the poor and tax decrease for the rich and the reduction in Unions. These are the ressons why pay has not kept up with productivity of the worker let alone inflation. Before Neo-liberalism pay matched productivity.

[@tariqlear5172]

Brexit!

[@andy1way]

@@tariqlear5172 How has brexit destroyed their incomes?

[@tariqlear5172]

@@andy1way if you honestly are asking that question seven years after the vote, then there is nothing I could say to begin explaining why Brexit is compounding the problems for our generation.

[@jamespeters7775]

@@andy1way there is not a single economic benefit to it. Business costs are up, revenue down, pound down (costs up) amongst many other things. The result is it becomes harder for more people to make a better income. AND TO TOP IT OFF, the main desire for most brexiteers was to reduce immigration which is now at a record high!

[@matthewjames1114]

If you didn't drink coffee you could buy a house for £800k

[@kiljaeden7663]

And if you give up the avocado toast and Netflix as well you could be even more aspirational.

[@smahier]

Let´s do the maths: assuming a cup of coffee is 5 pounds and you buy one every day. That´s 25 pounds a week, or 1200 pounds in a 48 week working year (assuming 4 weeks off for holidays). By that reckoning you would have to wait over 650 years to buy that 800k house, and there´s even the possiblity that the price would go up with six+ centuries of inflation.

[@robertcampomizzi7988]

Maybe in sixty years when the compound interest catches up

[@TalesOfWar]

@@smahier Basically thats a months worth of rent and bills per year. Hardly deposit territory is it? lol. Unless you're going to cut it out for the next 10 years, but which point you'll need even more.

[@bubba842]

​@@smahierYou are still going to buy coffee though, only cheaper.

[@kimbo194]

as soon as he mentioned coffee and false nails, we all knew exactly where he gets his information

[@NoContextRDH]

I understand where you are coming from but you can’t just dismiss that point. I see everybody rolls their eyes as soon as someone mentions younger people spending money on coffee, Netflix, beauty, drinking, package holidays etc. but there is a point there, I believe young people do spend too much because there is simply more to spend your money on now and FOMO is more real than it has ever been.

[@pocnit]

​​​@@NoContextRDHThis is simply complete 100% ridiculous nonsense, that's why it's dismissed. 65yo+ spend more on consumption than 35yo-, which in itself is ridiculous because you should spend more when you're young and building a life and you're vibrant and full of energy. If you add up Netflix, Prime, mobile, gym, swimming pool subscription and even £3 coffee a day you get... maybe £150-£200 a month, £2000 a year. 2 holidays a year will add a couple hundreds to that a year. Ryanair flights are like £20 these days. This is absolutely fuckall compared to the £250k+ you need for the cheapest worn out terraced house. 400k-500k+ for a decent house.

[@MrManBuzz]

​@@NoContextRDH What do you expect them to do? Spent their money on absolutely nothing? Have a life purely of subsistence? They're spending it differently now than those in the 70s did, but how often did people back then go to the pub? Drink and smoke. How is that any different than someone going to a café now and getting a coffee with their friends?

[@NoContextRDH]

@@MrManBuzz it’s called sacrifice. If you need to save for 5 years to get where you want to be then that is what you have to do. Give up the £350 a month car, going out every weekend and eating out every week.

[@johnwhalley8270]

​@@NoContextRDH There are people who do take that advice, and yet still have very little ability based on their wages to accomplish anything. People still have basic human needs, and at the end of the day im sure you're not meaning to imply you lived off of food scrounged from the bins, the rainwater collected in tins, and sewed your own clothes? I doubt this was this case.

[@deanlowdon8381]

Robert: “I don’t care what all the figures and data say because I reckon…” Don’t be like Robert people!

[@friendgray1]

How much are we willing to bet Robert was a Brexit voter?

[@chatham43]

......you took your time with the obligatory brexit comment...shame on you...😂😂

[@tariqlear5172]

@@chatham43 still at it huh

[@NoContextRDH]

Why does it matter? Stop banging on about it.

[@friendgray1]

@@NoContextRDH because this type of anti- intellectual delusion led to Brexit and we don’t want to make a similar mistake? (For now) I have the freedom to make this type of comment and I’m not going to censor myself just because it makes you feel bad for your choice to damage the country.

[@finalcut612]

@@NoContextRDH because it’s one of the causes of the problem. Why shouldn’t we talk about it? “The 08 financial crash was years ago, why are we still talking about its effects?” Because it still affects us so we still have to talk about it. When we at last rejoin the EU and finally do something about inequality we won’t have to talk about Brexit anymore but so long as Brexiteer lies keep causing problems we’re still going to talk about Brexit

[@xgford94]

3:06 the called Literally proves the point he’s arguing about… he’s paying for his daughter’s accommodation… why would that be?😂

[@wales123100]

University accommodation wasn't it

[@xgford94]

@@wales123100 all accommodation was my point but W.E.

[@TalesOfWar]

She has Netflix and eats avocado toast. Obviously. Sometimes she has a coffee!

[@DRSHANKER]

He literally said it him self though "My parents didn't have to do that" well yes Dicky, rob rob. That's because your generation was better off than the one after you... So you're having to help your daughter out because her lot are worse off.. You know the whole reason for the call son.

[@laurencefox5884]

I bought my first flat in 1997 for £60,000. It was a one bedroom and a bit of a ruin. It was also about 2.5 more than me and my wife combined salary. it was hard but affordable. The same flat was one the market last year for £450,000. To afford that you need an equivalent combined income of £180,000. £90,000 is nearly 5 times the average income in the UK. To suggest that I had it harder then than the generation of first time buyers today is a joke.....

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

I think average is 30k per year. But overall, totally agree.

[@laurencefox5884]

@@nothereandthereanywhere UK average is £638 total earnings (£33,176 pa). However the government moved from quoted annual to weekly in 2022 as the annual salary is somewhat lower (due to a rise in zero hour contracts). The actually UK average in 2021 was £26,856 for men and £25,115 for women, which has stagnated since. This effectively suggests that an average couple can afford a house worth £150k. Essentially house buying is unaffordable now for the average Brit and house ownership is at the lowest rate it has been since the 1920s. Most owner occupied housing stock is now owned by the over 50s (85%). This has declined over the last two decades and is linked to buy to let mortgages and the increase of the UK being used as a tax haven by overseas buyers. It began with Blair and has been accelerated by the current government. It is a war on British householders...

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

@@laurencefox5884 I have already said I overall agree with you - the main thing I did disagree with is the calculation of 90k being 5 times average. 90k is over 3x average as you have mentioned as well, actually(5 times average would be 18k otherwise). That being said, house ownership is a complete dream for most of us, not just those out of school. I do struggle myself and am seriously considering to move to Scotland, smaller town. As that area is in my price bracket(they have properties for 80k - not new ones, but better something than nothing at all!)

[@JayGriffinblaze]

@@nothereandthereanywhere It's £26K and that's the median figure. (ONS) The government is not giving the mean figure.

[@JayGriffinblaze]

@@laurencefox5884 That's the median figure, so any figures than that number that are less indicate people are on salaries below that.

[@pierreweinzweig8591]

My first house cost £16,000 (in 1984). It now costs £210,000 (in 2023). Today, the salary average has not kept up with house prices. And that is only one area.

[@mikem8211]

In London 210 k couldn't get you a box

[@chrishart8548]

​@@mikem8211might get you a parking space.

[@OliverBath-px6xq]

It’s frightening the lack of intellect amongst boomers.

[@diverguy3556]

Generalising much?

[@ShinYaguchiSama]

@@diverguy3556It is unfair to generalize. He should specify that he was talking about the caller and diverguy3556.

[@OliverBath-px6xq]

@@diverguy3556 many boomers** fair point.

[@chickenliver]

Lead poisoning and lack of higher education

[@Carlos12330]

Generalising there mate,I’m a boomer so called ,and I think this caller is a clown ,not all of us read the Daily Mail and shout at the TV ,in fact a lot of us believe we should go back to an economy that benefits everyone not just the well off,yes I’m a socialist 😱😱

[@jamesdebroy344]

Robert lost me at “I bought my first house” there are now people approaching 40 who have always worked full time and can’t afford to buy a house because they spend all their money on rent, food and utilities

[@richardfowler9901]

When someone on minimum wage cannot afford to rent a bedsit something is terribly wrong.

[@PastaSauce.]

A bed sit would at least be their own personal space. Instead they have to live in a house share with strangers.

[@johnwhyte7834]

My parents could afford to rent a private one bedroom basement flat in London in then80s as waiters and cleaners. The same family today would have to claim housing benefit and live outside London. Today people are way worse off

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

What’s wrong?

[@AB-zl4nh]

​@@HumansAreShitFactories The cost of living has been increasing faster than wages for the last 20yrs. This is a reason why Blair & Brown had to introduce working tax & child credits.

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

@@AB-zl4nh Do you care to cite any evidence?

[@joygernautm6641]

I am Gen X with GenZ kids. The only reason I have a house is because I bought it 20 years ago. With the appreciation on my home, if I was in a position to have to purchase the house, I live in today again, I would not qualify for the mortgage. And my house is modest and my income has gone up.

[@HShango]

Do you want a trophy? 🤨

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

@@HShango I think Joy wanted to enforce the argument that younger can't get on the property ladder as she herself would not make it. It isn't about a trophy, it is about facts.

[@chrishart8548]

I bought a studio flat (no bedroom)the same time you bought that house. It would be £100k now. I'm on £30.5k salary as an electrical engineer. Been doing the job 18years now I would consider it not a bad wage. But it would barely get me that same studio now at 44 years old at almost the peak of my career.

[@seanpatrick1243]

“And I had to walk to school everyday, in a snow storm, uphill!! . . . Both ways!!!”

[@joshuajarvis993]

To go from complaining about how his house price dropped and he was stuck in negative equity at the start of the call to saying hopefully house prices crash again so young people can afford a house is amazing 😂😂😂

[@TheBlueSuperDude]

"You're making an assumption that you know everyone's income, you can't do that" Process to equate his experience to everyone else in his generation.

[@powerboon2k]

Robert in Essex. I knew he was going to be clueless just from that.

[@chatham43]

...says Francis from North London....😊

[@Alex-cw3rz]

The arrogance of this caller knows no bounds

[@Erik-vf9yn]

I'd hate to grow old having the view that people younger than me should have it at least as hard as I had it.

[@johnrussell3961]

Even assuming it’s just as hard, their parents made sacrifices so the boomers had a better life. The boomers have no intention of making sacrifices for the benefit of todays young.

[@abegarfield7031]

Agreed. I went to war and seen things that haunt me every day since. I wouldn't want anyone else to go through that. Abusive childhood too. I certainly don't want anyone to experience any of that.

[@RegnumUmaril]

If "the kids" aren't better off than you, then your generation has failed them. They just don't want to admit that.

[@TalesOfWar]

@@johnrussell3961 Yeah, the boomers parents generation died, en masse in WW2. They literally fought for a better life for their children.

[@nausicaa262]

I've 'ad it 'ard. So you should too.

[@daviniarobbins9298]

When Robert bought his house 40 years ago it probably cost him about 3 times his yearly wage now 40 years later they have to be 2 of you working £18,000 jobs a year just to afford a basic 2 bedroom house and even then they would have to save up a £20,000 deposit. He really doesn't have a clue.

[@AshOs90]

You obviously live further north than I do, because where I live, you can just about afford a 1 bed flat with the income and deposit amount you just used in your example.

[@mikem8211]

In London a 3 bed semi in a half decent area is 650 to 750 k ffs

[@daviniarobbins9298]

@@AshOs90 Am in the north east but yeah, I take your point. Here 2 bedroom terraced houses are around 60 to 70k but new builds are at least £125k and 3 bedroom new builds at least £175k.

[@chrishart8548]

​@@AshOs90I live near Bristol actually by the M4/M5 interchange. I've done a search 20 mile radius on right move looks like nothing under £300k that's £30k deposit and £1627 a month morgage. I

[@kiljaeden7663]

Our last landlord bought the flat for about £60k in the 90's. We rented the flat for 6 years and paid him that much in rent while he travelled the world. And in the end, if he needs care he's got an asset currently worth £450k to finance it. Nice gig if you could get it.

[@grrr.9998]

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

It’s a bit pathetic when people quote other people in the YT comments section trying to sound intelligent and moral. Me, 2023.

[@JustHarryOBrien]

It’s a bit pathetic being Geoff.

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

@@JustHarryOBrien After looking at your channel page it’s clear to me who the pathetic one is.

[@jezdavis1865]

Excellent quote. I don’t quite understand the reason for the negative comments here - unless it was the shock at being shown one’s reflection so harshly and accurately.

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

@@jezdavis1865 Indeed, you don’t understand.

[@trapper69420]

A perfect example of "I reject your reality and will substitute my own"

[@inferior-penguin8661]

This fellow could win a house at the county fair when he was a young adult and I can barely afford to pay rent, let alone own a home.

[@Steveuploads]

Tell us about what your renting ? How much ? Where ?

[@barnigranero5882]

@@Steveuploads Why are you questioning this?

[@dh7314]

According to this guy you just need to stop buying coffee. Problem solved

[@charliecollins8028]

Cutting and painting his own nails would help tremendously

[@ChrisLivingInYork]

Regardless how you spend your money maths doesn’t lie. I would have asked him what percentage of your income went on your mortgage. Nowadays it’s between 40-50% maybe even higher. I’m in a fortunate position to own my house outright but my heart goes out for the younger generation who pay £500 plus a month for a room in a shared house.

[@thewieo]

When we rented 8 years ago there was 4 of us in a 3 bed house each paying £450 a month in rent. Me and my partner now pay just over £300 on our mortgage and the house across the street is is being rented out for over a grand and its smaller than ours. Owning is so much easier than renting and more beneficial and we only got here through help from family. The system is broken.

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

Your heart goes out? What does that even mean?

[@DavidBennell]

@@HumansAreShitFactories what rock have you been living under..... you have never heard that expression before?

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

@@DavidBennell Is that your informed, considered, and reasoned response? Did I say I’ve never heard that expression before? No I didn’t. Why would you deliberately misrepresent what I have said? Can you read? I merely asked the person who said it to clarify what they mean. Please only respond intelligently.

[@parametr]

The host tried to go there, but Robert was too thick to understand the question

[@continuumhypothesis2476]

A problem with a lot of "discussions" these days is that someone cherry picks one point and uses it to counter every point made by other people. They do not ever move or take other factors into account, just stick doggedly to their single "correct" point.

[@TalesOfWar]

Just like the Mail and the rest of the right wing want them to! Can't have them thinking about more than one thing at a time, they might start questioning things if they did!

[@josephmother2659]

The other problem is that internet, and I guess in this case phone debates, rarely succeed in changing one’s mind or getting to a compromise, let alone figuring out a solutoon to the problem

[@josephmother2659]

I mean an ideological compromise, because in order to solve a problem you must first fully understand it

[@footyball66]

This guy's generation had free university education. Was able to buy an average home at just 3x the average salary. If homes were still 3x the average salary, then the average house price would be £100,000, instead it's £260,000.

[@bigfluff73]

Most people don't earn over 33k

[@jordanwalker2804]

House I grew up in was bought by my parents for 40k; this was early to mid 90s and it was only a few years old. My family is fairly working class, my dad was the main breadwinner and the average uk salarywasaround £17500. 15-20 years later, my dad sold it for probably 200 to 250k. Laminate flooring, a new bathroom, new kitchen, and an extension - don't think that comes close to adding 160k to the value. If I tried to buy a house in that cul de sac today, I'd probably have to pay 250-300k. Average wage for young people is around 25000. So yeah, house prices were 2-2.5 times the UK average salary, now they're much closer to 10 times.

[@giselleyoung8551]

Really refreshing to hear someone advocate for young people’s rights! ❤

[@andrewlong6438]

I have every sympathy with Lewis and his generation. I am fortunate that at 61 I paid off my 25 year mortgage about 3 years ago when rates were at a historical low. My son bought a new 3 bed semi last year which is double price of mine 25 years ago. I can see my house being sold to pay for care home fees. Those who rent will have nothing to show for it and I dread to think where they will end up when they need care. I also got a uni grant. My son has a student loan.

[@barnigranero5882]

This is the important point here. Many forget this. It might seem perfectly OK for an entire generation to rent right now, but when they get to the age where they can't work anymore (and Generation Rent aren't likely to have a viable state pension unless it is at 75 with the way that the government are raising the pension age for future generations to pay for the boomers retirements) they will still have enormous housing costs and next to no income from a pension. Some people argue that they will be OK because they will inherit from their boomer parents, but that might not be the case because their parents will spend it on their care home fees or the inheritence will be diluted amongst multiple children.

[@SimoSensaiUK]

Mix in to this that the birth rate is dropping for multiple reasons, and so it’s possible future generations will be smaller. This will mean less tax revenue to pay for state sponsored care, and less people to do the caring. Our society works on the basis that we procreate; if people aren’t in a position to do so this house of cards will fall.

[@graemelake657]

Embarrassing. Thick as a castle wall

[@BugleCoops]

"No, I don't believe that at all..." "But it's a fact..." Where have I heard that before...

[@silvercfox7366]

People were statisticly much better off in the 70s than today

[@kevinduggan201]

This fellow is why my generation say okay boomer then proceed to ignore whatever they are talking about. They don't want to recognise times have changed and things are harder now. I think some of it may be collective guilt that the social contract of inter generational wealth increase failed on their watch.....there is a fascinating book called a generation of sociopaths, it describes how collectively the boomer generation display behaviours that would be considered sociopathic in an individual,.one of which is reckless spending and a lack of consideration for the future

[@pyroyergen5986]

Its another one of my mums generation who dont want to admit that the right to buy scheme Thatcher implemented has been a long term disaster.

[@chatham43]

...that's because it wasn't...😊

[@MrManBuzz]

It was moreso the total lack of building new social housing after that, that really caused the problem.

[@thecockerel86]

Children, this is why you have to pay attention in school. It has a longstanding effect on the rest of your life. Also, learn the difference between a single anecdote and mass empirical data.

[@readingfcdec]

Unless you sold it, you didn’t loose 10000 pounds

[@ianaspinall7948]

What really baffles me is the older generation that seemingly want future generations to suffer as much as they did (regardless of who actually has it worse). Surely you want to improve society for those that come next? I consider myself extremely lucky that not of my uncles, aunties, parents or grandparents have ever projected this view onto me.

[@LionRafale]

Lost all hope for humanity. I'm gonna call Thanos and ask him to be selective when he makes the snap

[@yootaobe5536]

I volunteer as tribute for the snap.

[@alr68]

My old man says the same thing about getting a coffe for around £2.80. completely ignores that he does £150 a week in the pub.

[@thefirm4606]

I remember buying my first flat, affordable with a salary of £15k. Me. By myself. In London. For £38k. I was 23. The second was a salary of 18k bought me a place in Camden for £58k. I was 26. Again, by myself. My niece would never be able to do that now, at the same age - and she’s earns £27k. This guy is fecking clueless.

[@shereadsmysteries]

“I lost money on that house! How am I better off?” Uhhhhh, you are/were able to own a house? 😂

[@AKATenn]

yeah, when i was a kid, you could rent a 2 bedroom apartment for 400$ a month, now, that exact same apartment would be 2500$ a month... this caller is totally ignorant... and we may be getting paid 15$ an hour, instead of like it woulda been 6$ an hour back then, but even with15$ an hour, 2500$ a month is too much. if most jobs pay you 2200$ a month, and rent alone, not including food, or electricity or anything else, is 2500$ a month, where does the extra 300$ come from?

[@sallystrutt6715]

Some people believe what they want to believe regardless of facts, you can't argue with people like that.

[@chatham43]

...then I won't argue with you...😊

[@glowwurm9365]

Since the 1980s house pieces have risen 1000%, the stock market rose 300% Rob, do you see the difference? Meaning house prices have averaged 6.9% since 1980 whilst wage rises which were 2.9% in the 70s have shrunk every year since, and since 2009 real term wages have slipped to -2.2%! So Rob I’m left paying £20k a year for nursery fees because in these “golden days” it’s impossible to get a mortgage on a single salary (not like my parents generation or the generation before that), a mortgage on a house which is now on average x10 the average wage. So yeah mate you’re paying your kids rent because it’s simply unaffordable for her to do so since your generation sold off all the social housing decades ago. Ensuring that even council home owners got incredible wealthy when compared to their children’s generation. Boomers really are the worst, your parents genuinely had it tough, they went to war, rationing, devastation but you lot, you lived through the golden age of capitalism where everything improved. But your kids won’t have that same lifestyle because you pulled the ladder up behind you selling anything worth anything so you could lower your tax burdens. Christ look at North Sea oil, look what you did with it then look at what Norway did with it. Now you won’t even accept that “got lucky”, so yeah you may have worked hard, but luck and hard work beat hard work all day long.

[@mattewj1268]

No one likes to see their struggles minimised. Life has always been difficult for everyone. Boomers struggle to believe they had it easy because they didn't, its just that it's even harder now. Its the relative nature of the struggle that is missing from the narrative and that's what makes it so divisive.

[@Choltonandthewheelies]

Why do people always think “boomers” were the generation before the millennials? Generation X were the generation before the Millennials, not the “baby boomers”!

[@mattewj1268]

@@Choltonandthewheelies I don't think people think that. We are taking about the boomers here not Gen X although Gen X did benefit in a similar way to the boomers but less so.

[@kanedNunable]

no, its old people refusing facts now.

[@Choltonandthewheelies]

@@mattewj1268 Depends where you are in generation x I was born right on the tale end of that generation so no free university, sky rocketing house prices and so on started when I was reaching adulthood. But I don’t blame another whole generation of people for that, that’s ridiculous. And the millennials are too busy complaining about how tough it is for them. Ok let’s see what THEY leave for the next generation! Every generation thinks they are the answer to a question only they asked!

[@mattewj1268]

@@Choltonandthewheelies yes same

[@allanspraggon7207]

I'm 44 and missed the bubble of "I'm alright Jack" so you can use me as a case study as to the first few that go through the reality of aging in modern Britain without the "benefit" of assets.

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

Move to Scotland, the properties are much cheaper there. I will move there myself as it isn't possible to get 'assets' otherwise.

[@DavidBennell]

Same, I didn't get any family help and started on minimum wage and spent a long time single, so only now at 42 am I finally in a position where despite years of sky high rent, I have saved £25k for deposit and costs, and finally have the wage to look to buy a house, I am suire the younger guys will say well hey at least you get that opportunity but it means I am not going to be retiring any time soon, I have paid £200k in rent over the last 20 years, so that bought someone else a nice house and now finally it's my turn to benifit from my labour. I feel people my age only needed a little bit of perental help getting a leg up on the ladder and they were away, but those of us with no family help still got left behind. Now it takes a lot of perental help to do the same. and very soon the door will be shut to most people.

[@lunaxquinn]

Some people in the older generations point at younger people who actually face difficulties, especially from the states culture war they voted for, and say those people are degenerates and i'm really the one who's hard done by, they seem to have this need for a victim identity because they don't feel important in the world and dragging other people down helps them feel like they matter, instead of like.... actually doing something that makes them important, cos y'know... that'd be work...

[@abegarfield7031]

They're not willing to accept that they've made mistakes that have had a serious effect on their lives. Instead of attempting to rectify these problems, they've chosen someone to blame. Young people (and immigrants) are an easy target.

[@HShango]

​ Yep, I agree. Especially the scapegoating bit😅

[@lunaxquinn]

@@abegarfield7031 Dont forget trans women, cos they're the reason he has to pay inheritance tax and made poor choices...

[@TalesOfWar]

I think it's a kind of unconscious guilt. Inside they know they had it better and it's probably their generations fault, and in some cases their fault specifically. But they can't admit that to themselves or the world so they have to dig in and carry on the lie.

[@mightyblowstudio]

I've never been in a position where I earn enough to be able to buy a house. I have been lucky in the fact that I'm able to live with my parents but that comes with its own psychological struggles.

[@senken12]

"I have to pay my daughter's university accomodation, my parents wouldn't have had to do that" That's cause his daughter's generation are seeing increased costs on every day living compared to his generation. How can he then say that isn't the case when he is directly living it?

[@Zaquria]

I couldn't believe that he blew his own argument out of the water with that sentence!

[@liamodriscoll429]

Yes Lewis you are correct, I'm 61 and worried about my daughter's futures , bills and prices are killing them financially

[@imnottellingyoumyname3050]

Him thinking because his interest rates were 16.5% shows his complete inability to understand basic statistics. - The average house price 30 years ago was 60,000. Assuming a 10% deposit he had to pay £760 a month whilst interest rates were 16.5% - the average uk property price is now £300,000. Assuming a 10% deposit you have to pay £1500 a month whilst interest rates are at 5% - median wage in 2023 is about £30,000. Median wage in 1993 was about £20,000. Median average wage gas therefore gone up 50% whilst mortgage payments on a FAR LOWER interest rate are up 100% But this chap sees the big number interest rate he had and is certain he had it worse!

[@DavidBennell]

Back in 1990 the avarage salery was around £18k and now its £35k but today the avarage salery would actually need to be £85k to have the same house purchasing power as that £18k did back in 1990.

[@David-bi6lf]

Put that £18000 into BOE inflation calc and it should be £41500 today.

[@David-le7jy]

Love to the family, Robert

[@BobGolob]

No surprise the new generation wants to kick the old generation out.

[@lewisvincent3290]

😂 what? 😂😂😂😂😂

[@johnrussell3961]

That’s what the boomers did when they where young. They where the IT generation. Get out of the way oldies, we have arrived.

[@paulwalker797]

Cue the self pitying Englishman meets Monty Pythons 'Four Yorkshiremen.' They go out and drink coffee for gods sake!! Outrageous.

[@andrewlong6438]

Whereas he may have been down the pub every night drinking cheap beer by the pint.

[@ianmcsherry5254]

I'm 57, and own my own home. If I ever get as ignorant and inconsiderate as that caller, I'd hope that someone would take me out the back and put me out of my misery. It's a totally different work, pay, and price landscape these days. In my last job, I worked with people half my age, and honestly, the only ones who stood a chance of getting on the housing ladder, by buying awaaayyy out of the city, and miles from work were management-level. Ordinary shop floor people? Not a chance. Stuck in the rental trap, and most likely flat sharing if they were single. It's not unique to the UK, but the general economic system is broken, for many, if not most, and especially with regard to housing. Nothing to do with immigrants, or asylum seekers as some declare. The system has been getting progressively broken since Thatcher's right-to-buy policy. A policy dreamt up by Michael Heseltine, except he advocated replacing the sold-off housing stock with new, modern social housing. Margaret Thatcher vetoed that part, and here we are.

[@danieljhanley]

Things aren’t harder now, but I do have to pay my daughters rent, and my parents didn’t have to do this for me… but things definitely aren’t harder.

[@kb4903]

So entitled. How dare he have to pay for his own old age with his house being sold!

[@HumansAreShitFactories]

It’s not as entitled as the lazy workshy bums who don’t pay for it.

[@Selkiehall101]

Guys like these are straight out that Monty python's sketch, "i work 30 hours day in my day the generation today didnt known they have it so easy bla bla bla" what a joke.

[@moorejim13]

its wild to me that older generations will never acknowledge that all they had "accomplished" was guided by forces creared by people out side of their knowledge and that those same people have narrowed the pipe and have forced the older generations to become complicit in the lack of resources the current generation is contending with.

[@noeldown1952]

This guy is not a boomer. He is mostly like Gen-X. Bought his first house 30 years ago, so early-mid 90's, must've been mid-20's, so he's probably around 55. His children are Gen Z, and he still doesn't get it. The mind boggles.

[@julezpanda14]

Hes on cloud cuckoo land, im an older mum and the difference between my daughter and son is fifteen years and the difference between then and now is incredible!! Even education is expensive compared to fifteen years ago, all parent's have to have internet which used to be a luxury, now a necessity. Uniform, even down to their shoes, all has to be bought from the same place, you can't go to the cheaper shops or get help anymore,and that's just for school, I could write an endless list if the caller likes!!

[@SkamGame]

I stopped drinking coffee, having avocado on toast, do my own nails and cancelled Netflix.... NOW I OWN HALF THE PROPERTIES IN LONDON. Thanks Robert for improving my life.

[@pinky6758]

"I don't believe it!!!"

[@louiseowusu246]

Wow....I'm a gen X, who teaches millenials and gen Zs. I see how some of them are really struggling and in some cases they are even having to financially support their families. It makes my blood boil when people from my generation fail to understand and forget that we didn’t pay to go to university, could find a job straight after etc. The situ is every kind of wrong.

[@kanedNunable]

the rot started with gen-x, as boomers threw us under the bus.

[@louiseowusu246]

@@kanedNunable what I also dislike is when people think that the younger generation are useless and have a pop when they raise issues that they are concerned about. Honestly, the amount of times I've had to 'remind' people from my generation upwards about the situation youngers face. You can understand why they express concerns about the climate, financial issues etc, but some people want to shut them down.

[@thetruth1167]

£58K is peanuts for a house, this guy needs a reality check

[@thequeenofspades]

From a thread I saw on Facebook: Person 1: "But then we didn't have the latest car, foreign holidays, IPhones, internet, gadgets, tattoos, £100 haircuts, gel nails, the latest fashions etc. We paid our mortgage then paid for food and utility bills, bus/train fare to get to work and then we saved some as well." Person 2: "You (and me) are part of the most looked after generation in the history of the UK! Free school milk, teachers who were not forced to focus on targets, apprenticeships, free university education, or you could just leave school at 15 with no quals and get yourself a job for life, non privatised NHS, widely available social housing, right to buy, the list could go on! And yes, you didn't have an iphone or the internet, but this is the natural progression of technology, after all, you had a telephone, a colour TV, a washing machine and I bet you didn't have a tin bath, lol"

[@stephenmerriman5620]

How can people be so ignorant, we have more information than ever before and they spout nonsense.

[@sneakyfish8191]

Lewis rocking the patience of a saint.

[@bensolo2000]

It wasnt easy for me, therefore its not fair that the current generation is struggling!

[@hg82met]

If only I stopped buying one coffee a week and two avocados a month, I could save enough money for a deposit for the average house which costs £300k

[@Mike-jl2kp]

The easiest argument to put to them is "If you were born today, you wouldn't have half what you have now"

[@DavidBennell]

its worse than that, if he has a £350k house, half would be £175k.... if you are a 25 yo today on £25k and spend 50% of your income on rent (£850 pm for a flat outside of london), even having a 10th of what he has would be fantastic.

[@leegosling]

In the 80s, before the WTD, I was working 100+ hours a week for £85 a week. And I could afford a slum bedsit. Then we joined Europe properly and then the Tories were kicked out and I could afford to go on holiday, buy a house and study for a Masters… Now after over a decade of managed decline we are heading back to the Thatcher ‘no future’ days… It’s not about generation against generation. It’s about who is running the economy and what their priorities are. Us or themselves.

[@Adamfandango]

They’re in wilful denial. They built the economy we now endure and they don’t want to admit that to themselves

[@Frank75288]

gen x were worse off than boomers

[@johnrussell3961]

According to the BBC they have been forced to be ruthless. If society doesn’t care for them why should they care for society? So they are willing to change job at the drop of a hat. Everything is about getting better wages.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Yep and millennials worse off than gen X and gen z worse off than millennials.

[@simonsharp5123]

“People are talking about how difficult it is for young people, why aren’t people talking about my problems” “black lives matter, does my life not matter”, “people are vegan, why are they judging me for eating meat”, “people are trans, that threatens my identity as a woman”, “that about straight pride/international men’s day etc” It’s not always about you. Acknowledging hardships that don’t significantly affect you is not an attack on you.

[@markshirley01]

Embarrassing, Im probably the same age as this caller. I was on £20,000 in 1996, I bought my house for £58,000 (new 3 bed Town house) thats a multiplier of x3. My Dad bought his house on a wage multiplier of x2.5. Today's generation have no chance of owning a home.

[@davidstorer2124]

How big were average mortgage repayments in early 80's? A lot less than now. 16% rate on small mortgage ( for a limited time ) not as big a problem as 4.5% on a massive mortgage now with prices as they are. So glad I am not starting out now. Each generation has issues but not everyone wants to hear that as they want to feel hard done to.

[@TheMagicJIZZ]

Income was lower and people spent less as % of household expenditure income on rent or mortgage payments

[@riccagiaco]

I admire Lewis calm demeanour, I wish I was similar in that aspect

[@bensonhedges26]

“My daughter is at uni and i’m having to fund her accommodation to the tune of £7k. My parents didn’t have to do that.” Soooo… what you’re saying is that your daughter has it tougher because she needs her parents help to pay for student accommodation as opposed to you who didn’t need your parents help? Thanks for making the point for us mate.

[@parametr]

And a degree guaranteed him a highly paid job. Not gonna be the same for the daughter.

[@highdownmartin]

I wouldn’t have paid five pounds for a coffee in the 70s But a coffee wouldn’t have cost five pounds back then. EXACTLY!! This man is incapable of following his own argument, such as it isn’t

[@parster2010]

If the house prices went down from £250k to £58k (and his daughter could afford to buy a house) - he’d be on the phone to complaint about it.

[@TheManolis1984]

Essex, of course it was Essex

[@HShango]

Might as well drop a full video 😅, the caller bought his home in the 90s, was house prices cheaper back then...in the 90s? So i did a tiny research my self houses prices on average back in the 90s were around £58k to £70k plus (or a little bit more, but still cheaper in real terms) on average, in todays world thats people salary lol. So yes i thnk boomers were slightly lucky to be able to buy homes cheaper back then compared to now where an average home costs £100k plus (out of reach for most millennials today, forever renters i guess).

[@BillyBobJoeSnr]

Yet you don't compare rent with mortgage payments. You'll find the younger generation are further trapped as rent is higher than the average mortgage payment. When many boomers bought buy-to-let houses the rent was then pushed over the base mortgage payment as every house had to make a profit and maintenance and fees.

[@nothereandthereanywhere]

100k for a house? Where do you live, in Scotland? I'm planning to move there as I can afford a house by myself. But in my area I live in, I would have to look at the value of 250k+ minimum. So your 100k is definitely not right.