Baby boomers are the wrong target

Call us the gilded generation. We have strolled through a life of effortlessly rising prosperity, abundant welfare and soaring house prices. Now we are stealing the bread from our children's mouths to fund our indulgences in retirement. While the young scour the streets for non-existent jobs, we fret about the choice between a safari and a cruise.

Enough. Someone has to speak up for the baby boomers. To listen to Britains present debate about equity between the generations is to be swept up in half-truths and distortions. Even the FT has joined the emotional bandwagon, calling todays young people the jinxed generation. These epithets catch the mood of the moment. They also obscure a serious unfairness ... READ MORE

Released by the Financial Times - 26 March 2012