The Pinch: How Baby Boomers Took Their Children’s Future – and Why They Should Give It Back

By David Willetts

This is the basic thrust of this book, outlining how the present middle-aged demographic fashioned the world to serve their own interests and, in the process, burdened their offspring with a sea of debt from which they have little chance of escaping in their lifetimes.

While the evidence used to support this theory is based on UK statistics, many of the same hard facts could well be applied to Ireland. The baby boom of 1945-65 produced the biggest, richest generation that the world has ever known. Today, at the peak of their power and wealth, baby boomers now run Britain and have fashioned the world around them in a way that meets all of their housing, healthcare and financial needs. Social, cultural and economic provision has been made for the reigning section of society, whilst the needs of the next generation have taken a back seat. Willetts argues that if our political, economic and cultural leaders do not begin to discharge their obligations to the future, the young people of today will be taxed more, work longer for less, have lower social mobility and live in a degraded environment to pay for their parents’ quality of life.