What every single mainstream media pundit seems to have missed in the Boomer vs Gen X vs Millennial debate

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
58
1

Why this man has everything to do with the Generation war – and why you probably don’t know that

It’s good to see the mainstream corporate media catching up to issues TDB were covering 2 years ago.

Suddenly someone at Stuff has realised there is a generational war going on, and the issue of  Boomer vs Gen X vs Millennial is now foremost in the consciousness of the masses.

Except that it isn’t.

For all the corporate mainstream media reckons, every single one seem to have utterly missed the biggest issue that defines the real tensions between Boomers and everyone else – neoliberalism.

Boomers grew up with a society fresh from the horrors of the Second World War. Men from all classes, religions and cultural backgrounds stood shoulder to shoulder and sacrificed for democracy and those who returned demanded the values they fought and died for were replicated at home.

So Boomers grow up in a time when it was believed the State had a sacred obligation to provide and support for everyone at all stages of their life. Boomers had a Cradle to Grave subsidisation and this has helped them become one of the wealthiest generations ever.

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

So what happened?

Neoliberalism happened.

Far right wing Economist Milton Friedman and his Chicago School of Economics argued in the 60s that Government interference in the market was what was creating problems and that the only solution was minimal Government. The Corporate OverLords loved this philosophy and weaponised it for politics throughout the 1970s.

Neoliberalism became mainstream with the election of Thatcher and Reagan and the 4th Labour Government.

Suddenly the belief of subsidising everyone from the cradle to the grave was thrown out by user pays. The universal well funded public services like Education, Health and true welfare agencies that actually cared about the welfare of the people they were meant to care about were suddenly facing crippling budget restrictions so the  neo-liberal Government could hand over huge tax cuts to the rich.

This is the fundamental difference between Boomers and Gen Xers and Millennials – Gen Xers and Millennials are the first generations who grew up under neo-liberalism, which is ironically what lifting super is all about – another neoliberal attack on a universal public service.

How do we fix this?

Really fucking simple!

We reverse the neoliberalism by forcing through more publicly funded universal services.

Free Public Transport

Free Breakfast and Lunch in schools

Free Education

Free Ambulance Services

Free Health

It was state sponsored services that helped build Boomers up, we need to implement new universals to help build up Millennials and Gen X.

To ignore neoliberalism when trying to understand the generational differences is like attempting to describe a rainbow in only black and white.

The dumbing down of NZ media to Seven Sharp and Project levels means these deeper explanations of why Gen X and Millennials are suffering so badly from the current system are never explored or explained.

It’s almost as if the mainstream media can not actually say the word ‘neoliberalism’.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

58 COMMENTS

  1. NICE !!!

    Mr Bradbury – we need far, far more of this sort of educational and historical impetus to get people talking.

    Well I remember in the 1970’s when Milton Freidman came on the television with his ‘peculiar’ theories… I remember the slow , slightly croaky voice and the thick lipped smile… I was around 10-12 years old at the time but somehow , for some reason … sat and listened to his programs regularly.

    Little did I know at that young age that this filthy conman was instrumental in pedaling an ideology that would affect and destroy my very own country of birth far , far into the future …

    I seem to remember Freidman was also the pin up poster boy for the Mont Pelerin society – of which both Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson were both sitting board members…

    The Mont Pelerin society , … with over 200 think tanks globally during the 1960’s … architects for the preservation of western capitalism … aka Laissez-faire ( the very same economic system that precipitated the conditions for the Great Depression ) – later to be reincarnated into neo liberalism…

    IT CANNOT be stressed enough just how much this ideology of the 1% has pitted whole sectors of community’s against each other – and in the process created poverty and misery among society’s that were formerly balanced and generally egalitarian .

    Prior to 1984 and the Roger Douglas Years of Treason , this country operated under Keynesian economics and was a true Social Democracy.

    We were the envy of the world for our lifestyle in general and our working egalitarian framework – and per head of population – enjoyed one of the highest standards of living at that time.

    The demise of so much good that we once had as a society can be laid firmly at the feet of those treasonous neo liberal individuals who manipulated our unsuspecting populace by stealth and deceit into accepting their falsehoods as ‘ truths’ and hijacking our political system and our Treasury benches.

  5. “Boomers had a Cradle to Grave subsidisation and this has helped them become one of the wealthiest generations ever.”

    Shit I am 72 and disabled and never got wealthy but I get the point we were bought up believing government was responsible for our wellbeing from cradle to grave and I even enjoyed this but still left the country in 196 for a brighter life in Australia as they do now and then I went to Canada to live on and off for 25yrs and got disabled there so I maybe would have been super rich had I stayed here who knows.

    I do know a lot of boomers that are not rich though so I am confused.

    Yes I want to see us back again in the golden age of egalitarian world before I die and we my kids enjoy the warmth of knowing a Government will take care of them as we all expect our government should do.

    • Yes, good point.

      I too am a Baby Boomer who is NOT rich. This is what grates with me when Bomber goes onto the generational attack game and I’m pleased that he is clarifying his position better.

      It is nuclear fallout from neo-liberalism that has led to the situation we are now in.

      That and nothing else.

  6. The problem is that governments following Milton Friedman’s teachings and the neoliberal ideology for over a generation now, they have forced people to buy into the new system, and look only after themselves and their direct family (partner and kids).

    Hence we have weakened unions, we have individual employment contracts for most, we have many former employees forced into sole operator small businesses, working as contractors, and we have private insurance, now also Kiwi Saver and so forth.

    All these people have their own little piece of the pie, which they cling to, hence we have such a struggle at hands.

    People that work and earn enough have their savings, their investments, and many try to use property as their source of income when they are retired, as living off National Super alone will for many not even cover the market rent they may have to pay.

    Contractors driving courier vans, or working as tradies or whatsoever, they will lament about them making ends meet through hard work, and that others on benefits live at their expense. Those in their own homes go on about having had to work hard, and ask, why can the younger ones not do the same, and save for a home.

    We have students forced to take out loans, so they invest in their tertiary education, which turns them into qualified teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, accountants, various business graduates and what else there is in well qualified positions. They will see it like they invested in their education, and ask, why can others not make the same effort and sacrifice.

    People are encouraged to get into business, and run their own operations, so again, these people think, I had to work hard to make it, why can others not face the same challenges and manage.

    The end result is a divided society, where every one looks after number one, and under the constant MSM and other brain washing thinks, hey, we cannot have utopia, where the state cares for us.

    That is what we have now, and even if Labour wins the next election, with the Greens, perhaps with support from NZ First or Maori Party forms a government, they will be mindful of the status quo, and largely offer little more than lip service to a fairer society.

    Most certainly they will not reverse neoliberalism to the degree needed, so we will only get a softer version of the same. Read their lips, and see what they do and not promise.

    It will be the lesser evil we will have to choose, as there is no party really courageous enough to do what Martyn suggests with this post. I wish it was different, but cannot see much being reversed by the next government.

  7. Yes Martyn i would say Neoliberalism as a word has been outlawed at the MSM news rooms. Hence you never here it. The corporate elite with the money want it that way as these policies are making them bucketloads of money. Neoliberalism is deceptive and is designed to last by not being too obvious on the surface but when you look deeper its insidious effects are all around us. Also the people enshrined to keep this agenda going are in important positions in government and they will have a succession plan to hand on the batton.

  9. Labour has had many chances to publicly reject the entrenchment of neoliberalism by Douglas and the egotistical Lange who set about demolishing Education for persona reasons assisted by a private school-er Picot. Lange was a fool to fall for that.

    Until Labour takes a public stand on this they have little integrity to base a campaign on. With that and their pathetically weak stance on emissions and damage to the planet, the issues they follow are largely just talk, which suits NACT just fine.

    The migration of public wealth to the investor market and transnational Corporations received little comment from Labour. They are complicit.

    Our system of “democracy” is not working for the majority and certainly works against the vulnerable minority. The public service is now directly under political control enabled by selected appointments and behind closed door corruption of its former apolitical mandate.

    Do we have to wait for collapse and mass trauma before we begin to think. The writing is plainly on the wall.

    • i don’t think its far off this housing/debt bubble is a ticking time bomb the fire economy can only function on ever increasing debt

        • And a state bank along with changes in the fractional banking with the percentage being progressively raised to many times the present 10%.

          The Govt should be the only agency to produce money out of thin air, and never private banks as is currently the racket being foisted on us..

  10. Finally a journalist that can think past the bullshit of the dumbing down drivel that permeates the media. Keep it up.

  11. How many gazillion $ in debt are we now?
    Free stuff costs more debt.
    Free stuff costs more PLANET …. duh we have run out of planet, you can’t cut this rock into 7.4 billion even bits
    The Omega generation is fucked, thanks kids.
    http://www.22After.com It’s all a con.

  12. Only NZ First is truly opposing neoliberalism. Winston has publicly attacked neoliberalism and those who peddle it, which includes the Green Party, Labour and National (plus top, Act, Maori).

    Two choices this election – for neoliberalism, or against neoliberlism.

    • If Winston was against neoliberalism why did he not make it a bottom line in his coalition deal with National in 1996 and support arrangement with Labour in 2005 to begin major changes to roll it back.

      As treasurer he the chance to start influencing policy in this direction but did not.

      He is was sacked by Jenny Shipley for not supporting the privatisation of Wellington airport but that is the only time he made a stand.

      His stance has always been for cutting taxes and minimising the role of government and has never supported any left wing position that would mean a return to pre 1984 policy settings.

      If as expected he supports the National party in government after the general election i predict that very little will change including the continued advance of the neoliberal economic system.

    • Only NZ First is truly opposing neoliberalism. Winston has publicly attacked neoliberalism and those who peddle it…

      Actually, that is questionable, Tania. Documents from the late 1990s, during his tenure as Treasurer in the National-NZFirst Coalition, show otherwise:

      Peters began by saying that there were “four core economic principles at the heart of the government’s strategy;

      “* sound, stable government
      * ensuring an economic climate conducive to sustainable development and growth, more employment opportunities, high quality education and social services, a strong commitment to low inflation, prudent and conservative fiscal management and over time, lower taxes and reduced public debt
      * an open, internationally competitive economy, a strong export sector, and policies to stimulate private sector and individual performance
      * planning for the country’s future, emphasising intergenerational fairness and increasing the nation’s saving”

      Later in the speech, Peters reiterated the Coalition’s fiscal policy;

      “That is why we are committed to low inflation, prudent and conservative fiscal management, lowering taxes and reducing public debt.”

      More: https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/09/07/expose-winston-peters-the-1997-speeches-and-neo-liberal-tendencies/

  13. The neoliberal robbers. The 1% that own as much wealth as the combined 99%. The 2 New Zealanders who have as much wealth as the lowest 30%.

    The neoliberal robber barons snuck in under a docile and compliant media and sold off most of the State-Owned income-generating assets.

    Those assets such as power, telecom, rail, airline, bank and now state housing would have funded cradle to grave for ALL generations.

    Now, any left-leaning party that gets into power is financially hamstrung. To re-instate the barest minimum of social contract between voter and parliamentarians, the left-leaning government has to borrow money from other robber barons to look after its voting base. Nationalisation is impossible.

    With media owned and controlled by the robbers, a left-leaning government cannot tax the 1%ers and make them pay a social levy. Mossack Fonseca showed that the robbers are hiding the spoils of neoliberal thievery out of sight. Corporates like Microsoft, Facebook and Apple use the tax shell game to stop them paying their share.

    I saw a sign the other day that said “Can capitalism afford the boomers??” A better question is “How can a social society reverse the scourge of neoliberalism?”

  14. Well said, and some great follow up comments.

    I fear though that as our commercial laws, practices and trade agreements are so intertwined with (and dependent on?) the global neoliberal machine that it will take some sort of catestrophic event to force us to rethink our independence and break the chains of economic slavery.

    The fact that NZ was (and still is) the poster child of the neoliberal experiment, and the consequential detrimental effects on our society are well known (to anyone not afraid to look). I feel that real change will only come when the general public see through the veil that MSM maintain and that is where the good work of TDB and the like come in.

    I am hopeful for a return to egalitarian based society, but also realistic, I think that we are very close to the point where economic colonisation is irreversible and any attempt to regain control of our destiny will be swiftly extinguished.

    I am not looking forward to explaining to my children and grandchildren why in one of the most plentiful countries in the world children are starving, kiwis can’t get jobs and those that can, work unreasonalble hours for untenable wages, clean water comes in a bottle imported from a corporation who owns our fresh water, people can’t afford a roof over their head, education and health are only available to those who can afford it and the old and sick are neglected.

    But my question is, is there a workable middle ground between globalisation and fierce nationalism such as we are seeing in the US? How to we retain (or more accurately, regain) our sovereignty, without becoming angry xenophobes?

    If we add back the state services that you list, without changing our economic model to pay for them (perhaps by way of higher taxes, import tariffs, retaining ownership of income from resources etc) do we not just risk further indebtedness to the global elite?

    As long as kiwis value imported luxury items more than they do knowing that every person has basic human needs (& rights) met. We are screwed. Sadly, I think it will take a war or major disaster to rend us from our very selfish ways.

    • If the Democratic Party hadn’t sabotaged Bernie Sanders we might have seen -with regards the US at least.

  15. You simply cannot remove weeds from your garden unless you identify them.

    You need to name them all and identify their physical appearance otherwise you risk removing useful/desirable plants in the weeding melee.

    The more you name neo-liberalism as the toxic weed it is on society, the more you can alert people to the core of the problems we face today.

    DO NOT BE QUIET!

    NAME IT!

    • We were at a social function and my partner was described by a farmer, as a “neoliberal”. We both nearly strangled him. But on further questioning, it was clear, he didn’t know any better.

      Re-branding neoliberalism then, may have already started by stealth, but as with most “Orwellian newspeak”, the naming has been blurred because MSM do not dare mention the term, for fear of becoming ‘JohnCampbellised’, or as Orwell put it, “vapourised”.

      John Campbell named and shamed the symptoms of neoliberalism and rubbed the perpetrators’ collective noses in it, outed their greed and their uncaring inequality and Campbell paid the price.

      Calling liberals and people with a social conscience ‘neoliberals’ is a tool of oppressors.
      Pitting Gen X/Y, Millenials and Boomers against one another is yet another tool to muddy the waters of a governing class trying desperately to mask the inequality and blame it on others.
      ‘Tree-huggers, druggies and lazy people’, as “Big Brother English” tells us, are causing the immigration and housing crisis FFS (slapping forehead with open palm).

      One tenet of neoliberal hypocrisy will be to legalise cannabis. The last bastion of me-first-neoliberalist ‘final solution’, will be to legalise euthanasia. A Swift and Modest proposal for the poor, brown, homeless, recidivist criminals and indigent, will be to reduce numbers on Universal Superannuation in 2034, “humanely” through legalised means.

      A swift and modest proposal ( http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html) for addressing the growing inequality and drain on the economy caused by neoliberalism – and cured by neoliberalism as well! The neoliberal ends justify the neoliberal means – fewer human resource drains on the Government’s diminishing budgets.

      Otherwise, just legalise medicinal cannabis and legalise assisted suicide for terminally ill people. The end, is to make a more humane society for those with terminal illness, not to make fewer financial drains on an ever-increasing unequal, neoliberal society.

    • The filth of the neo liberal ideological lie and the absolute wretches who peddle it.

      And why are they ‘ wretches’ ?

      Simply because in order to genuinely believe in this ideology after any in depth study of it would necessitate the searing of ones own conscience to genuinely want to inflict it on others .

      A hideous, wretched state for any human being to reach.

  17. I actually quite like Gareth Morgans policy on Super. Means test it. The example he gave was brilliant. Both he and his wife are about to turn 65 and will get over $500 a fortnight each. He said he doesn’t need it, give it to those that do or invest in services that can help- others. We need this man in parliament to replace Act, the Maori party and United Future.

    • It’s TOPS bullshit for Gareth Morgan to peddle his right-wing, anti-elderly gobshite about NZ Super. First he wanted to get rid of pesky cats, and now ‘pesky’ Superannuitants?? Means-test Super? What next? Get rid of Superannuitants cats and have Superannuitants eat the cat food that they would have spare from their deceased moggies? Move out of their homes and into the cat carrier, or catteries? Save money by shitting in the cat-litter-tray and save water so that would be better utilised by Aucklanders?

      Why doesn’t Gareth refuse his superannuation if he is NZ’s answer to Father Teresa? His f-dividends from TradeMe should be enough for Father and Mother Teresa to eek out a living? He can donate his, and his wife’s share of Super to poorer, less-fortunate elder-Kiwis.

      People in NZ have worked since they were 15 with the promise that they could expect, even rely on, superannuation. 50 years in the workforce, for between 1 and 25 years (average life-expectancy) of state support.

      An immigrant can come here and get FULL FUCKING SUPER after 10 years!! What sort of warped-logic, neoliberal bullshit is that??

      That should make Millennials’ blood boil!
      That should make Gen X’s’ blood pressure soar!!
      That should make Boomers vote Winston Peters in the hundreds of thousands!

      Cutting that loophole out alone, will save billions in Super payments until 2034.

      Until TOPS, National ACT, Maori Party and Peter Dunne’s one-man-bandaid get their heads out of their backsides and address 10-year eligibility for immigrants for full Super, they should all STFU.

      Stop pontificating from ivory towers, until the immigrants’ home countries fund their ex-residents’ Superannuation payments for the first 40 years of their lives here in NZ after 65 – NZ will fund the last 10+ years of the immigrants Super after their home countries reciprocal payments have expired.

      I know you won’t print this because it attacks immigrants. It doesn’t. It attacks a corruption/loophole that immigrants are eligible for full NZ Super after 10 years, while Kiwis work for 50+ years for the same state support.

      It isn’t fair and this immigrant anomalous rort should be addressed by Kiwi legislators and politicians. I wrote to Winston Peters about this. He has the answers, and will make a formidable coalition partner after the next election.

  18. For a minute I when I looked at the photo I, thought you were talking about Rupert Murdoch.

    Then I started reading the article.

    DOH!!

    Friedman is bad, don’t get me wrong.

    But back to Murdoch, a man who made divide and conquer possible through fear mongering. Without divide and conquer it would be much harder to force through the messages that the corporate media are doing now.

    If divide and conquer politics did not exist and people were not made to fear each other and society at large, how much of the neoliberal experiment would have actually happened?

  19. Interesting photo. Looks like the sort of guy who might support Augusto Pinochet and then lie about it. Oh wait…

  20. So instead of trickle down its perhaps time to try trickle up to stem the gushing up of resources to the already rich. Give the tax breaks and subsidise the less well of for a better life and it will still end up in the hands of the leeches.try Google Bill Maher on laboratories of democracy.

  21. Martyn;

    “How do we fix this?”

    OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING.

    http://robertdavidsteele.com/ has been speaking world wide on the subject
    with a memorandum to the Trump Administration also.

    Robert David Steele is the pro bono Chief Enabling Officer (CeO) of Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3 devoted to teaching holistic analytics (HA), true cost economics (TCE), and open source everything engineering (OSEE).

    He believes “The opportunity to take back the commons for the benefit of humanity as a whole is open – here and now.”

    He also believes that under the ‘Status Quo’ there is 50% waste in everything.

    Moreover, as history shows, the only way humanity moves forward is usually
    to break with the Monolithic Establishment and move around them.
    Otherwise they will always be looking for ways to undermine and keep their
    power and monopoly.

    “The whole point of Open Source Everything is to restore public agency.
    Open Source is the only form of information and information technology that
    is affordable to the majority, interoperable across all boundaries, and rapidly scalable from local to global without the curse of overhead that proprietary corporations impose.”

    The national security state works for the City of London and Wall Street – both are about to be toppled by a combination of Eastern alternative banking and alternative international development capabilities, and individuals who recognise that they have the power to pull their money out of the banks and not buy the consumer goods that subsidise corruption and the concentration of wealth.!

    For Steele, the open source revolution is inevitable, simply because the demise
    of the system presided over by the 1% cannot be stopped – and because the alternatives to reclaiming the commons are too dismal to contemplate.
    We have no choice but to step up.

    “My motto, a play on the CIA motto that is disgraced every day,
    is ‘the truth at any cost lowers all other costs.’

    Others wiser than I have pointed out that nature bats last. We are at the end of an era in which lies can be used to steal from the public and the commons. We are at the beginning of an era in which truth in public service can restore us all to a state of grace.”

    http://phibetaiota.net/2014/06/interview-nafeez-ahmed-the-guardian-and-robert-steele-on-re-inventing-intelligence-to-re-engineer-earth/

    As I posted in https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/03/08/how-latest-cia-wikileaks-impacts-nz-as-we-prepare-to-give-gcsb-sis-even-more-powers/

    Neo-liberalism/cons may well be over in America.

    http://phibetaiota.net/2017/01/robert-steele-the-soft-coup-collapses-blackmail-revealed-what-next-cia-was-bluffing-produced-no-evidence-russians-did-not-hack-the-election-is-this/

    What happens in NZ remains to be seen. We may find the Commonwealth
    may try to consolidate.

    My personal view is only a party like NZFIRST would embrace something like
    this because the other three seem fully captured by the status-quo.
    Remember until MMP, NZ too suffered under the ‘Two Party Tyranny’ they
    talk about in America.

    Winston needs to understand this concept and preach it around the country
    to make sure NZF out polls Labour to secure the leadership of a Coalition.

    Most of these points contained in a message to Trump will be relevant to our
    situation.
    Especially #4 could be promised on the campaign trail with regular posts/videos
    to NZF website. ie Bypass the media.!!
    #4 Ike Eisenhower was the last president to have a grand strategy – you need one. Read NZ needs one.
    http://themindunleashed.com/2016/12/former-cia-spy-surprising-christmas-message-trump.html

    Source:
    http://phibetaiota.net/2017/02/robert-steele-memorandum-for-the-president-warning-on-american-spring-riots-eight-actions-to-make-america-great-again/

    http://phibetaiota.net/

    To Martyn, Winston and other academics;
    http://phibetaiota.net/2015/10/robert-steele-applied-collective-intelligence-2-0-draft-article-seeking-peer-comments/

    http://phibetaiota.net/2015/06/yoda-open-source-everything-wiki/

    http://phibetaiota.net/2015/11/creating-the-future-recent-core-work-by-robert-steele/

    Hope I have been some assistance.

    Cheers.

  22. Free Public Transport

    Free Breakfast and Lunch in schools

    Free Education

    Free Ambulance Services

    Free Health

    That will do for a start. Every single one of those policies would have positive flow-on effects for society as a whole.

    Only the short-sighted would oppose them.

    I would also add;

    * Implement a UBI

    * state housing for as long as the tenant required it

    * removing gst from fresh food

    * socialised electricity supply

    * a full capital gains tax and financial transactions tax

    On top of which;

    * TV1 should be made ad-free and turned into a serious broadcaster along the lines of Radio NZ/BBC/Al Jazeera, funded by crap on TV2 and a levy on Sky TV.

    * a comprehensive civics curriculum in our schools

    And that would be the beginning.

    • Martyn,Frank and the many intelligent commentators above.

      Peter Thiel: Globalization is Over.
      http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/03/08/peter-thiel-globalization-feels-dated/

      Running for Governor of California?
      http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/01/15/contrarian-peter-thiel-running-governor-california/

      Is he is working for Trump?
      http://www.breitbart.com/search/?s=Marc+8+%2F2017%2F#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Peter%20thiel

      Source;
      http://www.breitbart.com/

      I am a Boomer in my 69th year and never,ever thought I would say these words.

      With all the brilliant contributions above and Martyn’s excellent words in this
      article, I feel it is time to stand up on the right side of history and stake our claim.

      Not for the ‘Social Democracy’ of old that NZ was well known for that was
      infiltrated,raped/ pillaged and psycohlogically manipulated to were we are today,
      but a complete break from the Monolithic Establishment that always had us
      chained around the ankles and now around our necks.

      Not for the Divide and Rule Strategies of ‘Left and Right,’ Black and White or
      Identity Politics that lead us to Full Spectrum Dominance but to transition
      into a pure Open Source Technology (as described by Steele above)
      Constitutional Libertarian Republic that will join an Alliance of similar thinking
      Entities whilst retaining full Sovereignty of a Nation State.

      Partnership,if suitable on a one on one basis,would be formed with lesser Entities.

      It’s time our Military, Police, Intels etc swear allegiance to the Republic only.
      To protect and secure the health and wealth of a Government for it’s people,
      by it’s people as very first priority.

      Weaponized news/education and propaganda will be a treasonable act.

      Only then,on the principles above,can we hope to secure a future for the
      Generations to come. And go to our graves with the satisfaction we did our
      best and we did the right thing.

      Leaving behind a truly Co-operational Society.

      Cheers.

      • An unrelated quote by Julian Assange? Is that your validation of referring to Breitbart as your source? Got any other far-right websites you want to share with us, Iain? Whaleoil maybe?

      • Priss;

        “An unrelated quote by Julian Assange?”

        If you had been observant you would have seen the Date/Time so could
        not possibly have been a reply to Frank. Funny that but it happens some times.

        It was in relation to the Daily Blog link embeded in my 1st post above
        referring to the Wikileaks Vault 7 dump.

        You seem to be worried about the messenger instead of the message.

        Cheers.

  23. Good stuff there Martyn.

    We are boomers … husband born 1945 and me 1946. We are by no means wealthy.

    Being raised in the cradle to grave NZ of the time, post WWII, gave us a strong sense of social justice, a good work ethic and a realisation of what fairness should be. It was a social structure which placed a strong emphasis on the importance of child health care and quality education, courtesy of the state.

    We worked hard and received liveable wages for our efforts. It was a time that gave us the opportunity to get into our own home, and raise a family, something denied far too many young Kiwis now. It was a social structure we were proud to be part of and willingly contributed to, making NZ a better society for all Kiwis to benefit from.

    It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a good fair system and it worked well for society as a whole.

    Bring back an egalitarian NZ.

  24. I retire at age 65, having spent nothing on my university degree.

    My kids retire at 67 having accrued $23,000 and $30,000 each for their degrees.

    What’s wrong with that picture? Anyone who doesn’t get the answer is part of the problem.

  25. In any “war”, the people that profit are those fuelling the conflict.

    A so-called generation war plays right into the hands of the powerful, the moneymen, the media – and ultimately does nothing for the little guy/gal.

    It is as it always was – divide and conquer.

  26. Try taxing those rich boomers more and see how you get on or better still start taxing the Gen X and Millennials to the degree that would pay for these wonderful ideas and see how they react to that.

  27. “Free Public Transport

    Free Breakfast and Lunch in schools

    Free Education

    Free Ambulance Services

    Free Health”

    The above items, it must be admitted, are worthwhile for reasons which are largely non economic. Milton Friedman was an economist attempting to elucidate the economic effects of society’s institutions; but it is the politician who implements policies. The latter can, and should, give preference to non economic values where appropriate. If they don’t then we should be blaming them, not Friedman, whose ideas are probably valuable even if one chooses to ignore them.

Comments are closed.