Philip Inman’s article (Baby boomers, pay your dues, 14 February) ignores some important facts. First, the baby boomer generation inherited one of the highest levels of public debt in British history: 240% of GDP, following the war. They got that down to under 32% by the 1990s. The fact that they paid higher taxes than today during most of their working lives probably had something to do with it, as well as economic growth and the full-employment policy of successive governments before 1979.On pensions he uses some unwarrantedly extreme language. He makes misleading statements like “monster payouts from guaranteed final salary pension schemes”, “the cost is unaffordable”, “people who have taken – and will continue to take – far more out of the system than they put in” as if they are unassailable facts. (Hasn’t Inman heard of compound interest?) Continue reading…
Source : theguardian.com
Read more…Baby boomers bash back with facts of life in work and retirement | Letters
