I think everyone remembers when that one asshole claimed the reason that many young people couldn’t afford the deposit for a house was because they spent too much money on coffee and avocado toast and it turns out that headline has embedded itself in the heads of the older generation and isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
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The news comes courtesy of a study carried out by researchers at King’s College London who determined that over 50% of boomers thought that young people couldn’t afford to get on the property ladder because of their luxury lifestyle involving regular Deliveroo orders and monthly Netflix subscriptions. However, the Director of the Policy Institute at King’s Bobby Duffy said that this was completely wrong:
The solutions offered up by baby boomers are minor factors compared to the huge increases in house prices and required deposits.
The suggestion that the huge challenges young people face in buying their own home can be solved by skipping fancy coffees and Netflix entirely misses the point, but it’s still believed by half the public.
It also reflects our general tendency to think bad of today’s young people. Throughout history people always think the current youth are the worst ever.
All makes a lot of sense really doesn’t it, but I suppose it’s typical of the older generation to read something dumb and frivolous and just believe it despite mountains of evidence proving the contrary. A load of people also took to Twitter to illustrate with basic maths how this was a completely ridiculous assumption as well:
I wish this was an exaggeration. Netflix is $15.50 a month, $186 a year. Median house price in the US is $428,700. That’s ~2,305 years of subscriptions. Also, my boomer parents use my Netflix account.
— Feminine Miss Geek (@femmissgeek) June 13, 2022
Netflix – £83.88 a year
Takeaway once a month, no more than £30 (depending on cuisine)
30×12= £360+£83.88= £443.88
Average house price in my area – £350000
25% deposit-£87500
197 years of no netflix or takeaways to save up the deposit. Thanks for the “advice” boomers 👍 https://t.co/G0VOxlsd4w— Marti 🇨🇿🇪🇺🇬🇧 (@Princesspitfall) June 14, 2022
Yeah that $1200 I’ll have saved after 10 years for not having a $10/mo Netflix subscription is what will enable me to buy a house, for sure. https://t.co/vDfp2se70T
— Caraid (@CaraidArt) June 15, 2022
The average price of a house in 1946 was $5,150. Fast forward to 2006, it was $266K. Average price of all houses sold in 2022? $428,700. Respectfully, we don’t need baby boomers in this conversation, especially given the current state of our economy. https://t.co/1E6BlIvpHz
— 🐻❄️ (@blknatsuo) June 14, 2022
Netflix: $17 a month
A home: half a million dollars or moreThey’re right, it’s the Netflix https://t.co/Ub5kUQhUhi
— Laura (@theactivestick) June 14, 2022
Yeah I hate to say that boomers are out of touch, but they really are aren’t they? Most of the responses on the thread were telling boomers that they should kill themselves and are stupid, but what I really think we need to do is actually explain to them the figures and how difficult stuff for the younger generation is due to wage inflation and then….oh who am I kidding, they’re never going to listen are they?
The second part of Bobby Duffy’s statement here is the most important part. There’s always animosity to the generation below and the older generation are never going to listen to them, so all we can really do is suck it up and say ‘OK Boomer’ over and over again. Great.
For more of the same, remember that girl dancing on TikTok to a weird ‘OK Boomer’ song? Doesn’t get old.
