Wednesday 9 November 2011
Tuesday 8 November 2011
baby boomers
So Michael Jackson's family are planning a series of law suits, blaming everyone in sight for the shortcomings and death of their famous cash cow. They must be obscenely wealthy already and yet rather than grieve the loss of their relative, they are grasping for yet more money. They are representative of the avaricious unpleasant society that we live in today.
Those of us born in the years immediately following the second world war are referred to as the baby boomer generation, and are being held responsible for the current state of the world. Every generation blames the one that came before, and so I guess that the current younger generation will one day be held accountable too, probably for the appalling quality of music as well as the debt ridden state of the nation.
As a child, I, and many of my own generation, was brought up to abhor debt. If you wanted something, you worked and saved until you could afford it. People saved money all year long so that they could afford christmas. Summer holidays were almost unheard of, and we accepted wearing clothes until they wore out. There were no credit cards, many people didn't even have bank accounts.
Now, everyone wants everything whether or not they have the means to pay. Everyone has a car, or more than one, no-one is without a washing machine, tumble drier, flat screen TV, games console and most impressively the latest and most expensive mobile phone. Many people are up to their necks in debt, taking out more credit cards to pay off what they owe until they get to the state when they can no longer pay. Nowadays it seems that debt is a badge of honour and no longer a stigma.
We live in an age of consumerism, driven by the capitalist system that thrives on the perpetuation of greed. By making those at the bottom of the pile think that they are somewhere else if they accumulate the trappings of those at the top, the parasites at the top make sure that the wealth continues to flow in the right direction. The bank accounts of the wealthy, like black holes, suck in more and more gaining a stronger and stronger pull, while the rest of us struggle to keep up. The spiral intensifies and sooner or later the whole edifice must collapse.
Those of us born in the years immediately following the second world war are referred to as the baby boomer generation, and are being held responsible for the current state of the world. Every generation blames the one that came before, and so I guess that the current younger generation will one day be held accountable too, probably for the appalling quality of music as well as the debt ridden state of the nation.
As a child, I, and many of my own generation, was brought up to abhor debt. If you wanted something, you worked and saved until you could afford it. People saved money all year long so that they could afford christmas. Summer holidays were almost unheard of, and we accepted wearing clothes until they wore out. There were no credit cards, many people didn't even have bank accounts.
Now, everyone wants everything whether or not they have the means to pay. Everyone has a car, or more than one, no-one is without a washing machine, tumble drier, flat screen TV, games console and most impressively the latest and most expensive mobile phone. Many people are up to their necks in debt, taking out more credit cards to pay off what they owe until they get to the state when they can no longer pay. Nowadays it seems that debt is a badge of honour and no longer a stigma.
We live in an age of consumerism, driven by the capitalist system that thrives on the perpetuation of greed. By making those at the bottom of the pile think that they are somewhere else if they accumulate the trappings of those at the top, the parasites at the top make sure that the wealth continues to flow in the right direction. The bank accounts of the wealthy, like black holes, suck in more and more gaining a stronger and stronger pull, while the rest of us struggle to keep up. The spiral intensifies and sooner or later the whole edifice must collapse.
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