Having conflict between generations is no new phenomena. Since the beginning of time, each generation has had a differing set of values. Each generation has been a product of the environment they grew up in and with the world evolving as quickly as it is, there should be no surprise that each generation has been shaped in its own unique way. These differences lead to heterogeneity which causes inevitable conflict. The clash most prevalent today is between the baby boomers, and the millennials. A type of figurative corneal dystrophy plaguing both side that can only be remedied by viewing society through the others eyes.
Stephen Price, a writer for Maclean’s magazine, tries to provide this remedy through his article, “B.C. boomers have lost their moral authority to judge Millennials.”[i] Price outlines how the baby boomers prospective on millennials being “entitled”[ii] and their inability to afford basic necessities such as housing are due to, “their entitlement, lack of work ethic and realism.” Baby boomers have lost their ability to make such claims in Price’s perspective because of their entitlement and reliance on subsidies (more specifically the HoG homeowners grant and B.C. Property Tax Deferral’s) that allow them to stay in their million dollar homes that have vacant rooms that millennial families are desperate to occupy. Millennials are getting financially ruined by absurd increase in student loans and tuition, that compared to when baby boomers received their education have had a “300 per cent [increase] in the most job-oriented fields of study: law, medicine, teacher education, M.B.A.s.” Pair this crippling student debt with a stagnant and over priced housing market and you fully get the millennial experience. The reason the scale is so tilted toward baby boomers in the distribution of taxes comes down to one word: votes. As Price outlines in his article, “There are any number of programs that would be a better use of this money, but it would take a political magician to navigate a change without losing too much support from older voters.” The examples of better uses of the $820 million annually spent on HoG subsidies are “lowering student loan rates” or even “A $1,000/yr grant for every child in B.C..”
I understand that giving up a family home where you have lived for 30 plus years is no easy emotional feat but I think baby boomers need to take a step back and see from the prospective of the upcoming millennial generation. The difference that would created from the redistribution of these tax dollars and downsizing by baby boomers will not only have an immense effect on the economic welfare of the upcoming generation but would also be a peace offering from the baby boomers to the millennials that could create an understanding and erase the distorted view each side has.
[i] Price, S. (2017, January 17). B.C. boomers have lost their moral authority to judge Millennials. Retrieved February 03, 2017, from http://www.macleans.ca/economy/realestateeconomy/b-c-boomers-have-lost-their-moral-authority-to-judge-millennials/
[ii] B. Hite, “Employers Rethink How They Give Feedback,” Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2008, p. B5
