4 ms·

What exactly is the social promise now? One can study hard, get an objectively good qualification, if you're lucky get a decent job and still all you've signed

What exactly is the social promise now? One can study hard, get an objectively good qualification, if you're lucky get a decent job and still all you've signed up for is to be a good tenant for a landlord for the rest of your days. In the seventies social housing programs gave an entire generation a chance, and now that same generation is scalping their own offspring with the very same properties.

martin_a 2y ago
I think Chinese people have already seen exactly that and are now "laying flat", see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping
ohgr 2y ago
You can get an objectively good but objectively useless qualification by studying hard. The trick is to pick something not objectively useless. My daughter did and jumped into a high salary job straight away.
kypro 2y ago
> In the seventies social housing programs gave an entire generation a chance, and now that same generation is scalping their own offspring with the very same properties. Controversial opinion, but the pension system is even more problematic in this respect. Boomers are living longer and didn't have enough kids to maintain the affordability of the post-war pension system, but they don't seem willing to take any responsibility and instead have demanded my generation must accept mass-immigration and record high taxes instead of say pushing back the retirement age or requiring boomers who are sat on a large property wealth sell their home to fund their own retirements.... I've been alive a little over 30 years and I've seen my city completely change as a result of immigration. And everyone I know who is working complains endlessly about the amount the government is taking from them in taxation. And of course some people would argue that this cultural change was a good thing, which is fair enough if they feel that way, but one can't help but be amazed at how keen boomers have been to make such significant and permanent changes to our nation's culture and demographics simply to ensure they get their pensions. And it's not like boomers as a generation don't have the wealth to chip in a little...

martin_a 2y ago

I think Chinese people have already seen exactly that and are now "laying flat", see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_ping

ohgr 2y ago

You can get an objectively good but objectively useless qualification by studying hard. The trick is to pick something not objectively useless. My daughter did and jumped into a high salary job straight away.

kypro 2y ago

> In the seventies social housing programs gave an entire generation a chance, and now that same generation is scalping their own offspring with the very same properties. Controversial opinion, but the pension system is even more problematic in this respect. Boomers are living longer and didn't have enough kids to maintain the affordability of the post-war pension system, but they don't seem willing to take any responsibility and instead have demanded my generation must accept mass-immigration and record high taxes instead of say pushing back the retirement age or requiring boomers who are sat on a large property wealth sell their home to fund their own retirements.... I've been alive a little over 30 years and I've seen my city completely change as a result of immigration. And everyone I know who is working complains endlessly about the amount the government is taking from them in taxation. And of course some people would argue that this cultural change was a good thing, which is fair enough if they feel that way, but one can't help but be amazed at how keen boomers have been to make such significant and permanent changes to our nation's culture and demographics simply to ensure they get their pensions. And it's not like boomers as a generation don't have the wealth to chip in a little...