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The article mentions pensions at the end... what's a pension? Joking aside, I haven't seen outward bitterness regarding their poor lot from the current young g

The article mentions pensions at the end... what's a pension? Joking aside, I haven't seen outward bitterness regarding their poor lot from the current young generation so much as doubling-down on the rat race in an attempt to still top their parents somehow. It's pretty bad for their mental health, and not very effective so far, but may pay off in the long run.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
A pension is something companies used to provide to their employees. Employees used to be able to stay their entire career with one company and amass a pretty decent retirement pension with said company. Then Wall Street got corrupt. They demanded ever more from companies. Each quarter had to show more profit from the last otherwise they punished the company. Wall Street found ways of funneling any profits directly to investors instead of investing in the company (and, more importantly, it's employees). Pensions took a hit. Companies stopped offering them. Some companies 'borrowed' from pensions and lost it all. The employees did suffer. Employee loyalty dropped. Companies took that as an opportunity to treat employees as temporary; replacing them regularly with cheaper ones. You'll have to wait until tomorrow night to hear the rest of the story. G'Night.
- raverbashing 11y ago
  Oh how funny You just forgot to mention how pensions funds invest heavily in 'evil' Wall Street And how Wall Street has not been invented in the last couple of years. And how people happily wound a rope on their necks for a bigger house.
- ionised 11y ago
  This is a BBC article and in the UK, pensions are still very much alive. We receive a state pension at retirement that is dependent on national insurance contributions over the course of your working life. You can also contribute to (and have recently probably been automatically opted into) private workplace pensions that your employer will probably match (up to a point).
  - thinkmoore 11y ago
    This is true in the US, where the state pension is called social security. Except that conservatives have somehow rebranded this "entitlement" (to which you are entitled because you pay contributions over your working life) to something whiny "entitled" workers are unfairly demanding from the government.
6stringmerc 11y ago
I know this sounds terribly cynical but I'm very, very curious to see how the "Give us all our entitlements!" generation of elderly folks are going to convince the middle-aged and younger working class to support their desires and expectations when, practically speaking, that's the same generation who collectively broke the system. My sense is that domestic issues - healthcare, housing, and entitlements - are going to be a lot more pressing subjects than global affairs within 10 years. It's a little "out of sight out of mind" right now, but it will hit all political affiliated middle and younger aged cohorts right in the paycheck... I could be wrong, but the ridiculous income inequality overlaid with generational power broking for the past 20-30 years could really set off another "great awakening" type of social upheaval. 70 million Baby Boomers. 70 million Millenials. 30 million Gen-X in the middle to take sides.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

A pension is something companies used to provide to their employees. Employees used to be able to stay their entire career with one company and amass a pretty decent retirement pension with said company. Then Wall Street got corrupt. They demanded ever more from companies. Each quarter had to show more profit from the last otherwise they punished the company. Wall Street found ways of funneling any profits directly to investors instead of investing in the company (and, more importantly, it's employees). Pensions took a hit. Companies stopped offering them. Some companies 'borrowed' from pensions and lost it all. The employees did suffer. Employee loyalty dropped. Companies took that as an opportunity to treat employees as temporary; replacing them regularly with cheaper ones. You'll have to wait until tomorrow night to hear the rest of the story. G'Night.

raverbashing 11y ago
Oh how funny You just forgot to mention how pensions funds invest heavily in 'evil' Wall Street And how Wall Street has not been invented in the last couple of years. And how people happily wound a rope on their necks for a bigger house.
ionised 11y ago
This is a BBC article and in the UK, pensions are still very much alive. We receive a state pension at retirement that is dependent on national insurance contributions over the course of your working life. You can also contribute to (and have recently probably been automatically opted into) private workplace pensions that your employer will probably match (up to a point).
- thinkmoore 11y ago
  This is true in the US, where the state pension is called social security. Except that conservatives have somehow rebranded this "entitlement" (to which you are entitled because you pay contributions over your working life) to something whiny "entitled" workers are unfairly demanding from the government.

6stringmerc 11y ago

I know this sounds terribly cynical but I'm very, very curious to see how the "Give us all our entitlements!" generation of elderly folks are going to convince the middle-aged and younger working class to support their desires and expectations when, practically speaking, that's the same generation who collectively broke the system. My sense is that domestic issues - healthcare, housing, and entitlements - are going to be a lot more pressing subjects than global affairs within 10 years. It's a little "out of sight out of mind" right now, but it will hit all political affiliated middle and younger aged cohorts right in the paycheck... I could be wrong, but the ridiculous income inequality overlaid with generational power broking for the past 20-30 years could really set off another "great awakening" type of social upheaval. 70 million Baby Boomers. 70 million Millenials. 30 million Gen-X in the middle to take sides.