Born Bankrupt

Last Friday night I watched the Sky News Special Born Bankrupt; an insight into the British Economy and the potential future of mine and generations to come. I was stunned at some of the statistics highlighted in the programme.

Britain currently has 1 trillion pounds of national debt which means that if you lined up the National Debt in stacks of 20 pound notes laid side by side from the centre of London, it would reach Dubai. A staggering statistic which can only get worse as the decade goes on. Also, Government spending has increased UK National Debt by 350 billion pounds since the turn of the century. As the debt rises, the bill only gets worse for my generation. Politicians should stop making massive unfunded promises to the public and only promise something when Britain can actually afford it.

Now we turn to the current young generation of voters. University fees have risen to 9,000 pounds a year and average student debt at around 53,000 pounds will take 30 years to pay off. The average first time buyer of a house has risen to 37 years old and with house prices at 10x the amount they were 30 years ago these statistics can only change for the worse. For every child born today, they will leave hospital with 17,000 pounds of inherited National Debt accumulated and spent by previous generations – which is frankly sad. It is safe to say my generation are losing hope.

We know look at the other end of the line. The baby boom generation which on many levels has stolen the future of young people like me, they have lived life to the full, sucking up all of the money from the economy and not investing anything back into it. They are the people who have stolen my future. The people whose bills I will be paying in a few years’ time, and of course their massive pensions and healthcare in their elderly age. These people know what they have done, they know they have stolen the futures of their grandchildren but will not admit it. They need to take a long and hard look at their past and the present young generation whose lives will not be as enjoyable because of their greed.

In the end, when my generation comes to vote, the baby boom generation will eventually be outvoted and my generation I assure you will not vote to pay for healthcare when the baby boom generation needs it most. Simply because we won’t be able to afford it, so in the end it will come back to bite them when they are at their most vulnerable.

Seb