Whilst everyone seems to be whining about their poor old lot in life and passing the blame onto everyone but themselves, perhaps we all might do a bit better in life if we applied the following:

"The world is very very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life."

and
"...ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

[From the Inaugural Address by President John F. Kennedy - January 20th 1961]
http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm

Not much has changed (or improved!) in 50 years, eh?

The comments here are typical of a narcissism that pervades this generation. In a documentary years ago a sex worker confided her clients were either older blokes or Gen Y's. After bad experiences she refused to have anything to do with Gen Xers. They were too obnoxious.

This nonsense about mortgages, long hours of work, child care costs, etc as an excuse for no volunteer-ism is pathetic. The older generation experienced privations this mob can't imagine, especially given their propensity to want the big house, flash car and consumer goodies (all on credit) as soon as they got out of their training wheels, yet it is the older generation that are the volunteers in this country.

The boomers have picked up the baton but their efforts pale when you measure them against the older crew. Perhaps the boomers will do more as they leave the workplace in droves, given their experience in the latter part of their careers dealing with aggressive, super-competitive Xers who expect high salaries and senior positions on the basis of....what exactly? They are invariably worse educated, impatient with those who have more experience and skills, and more inclined to bully those around them. So, get out of their way because they are coming through.

Boomers can't get away from them fast enough, and the Y's are pushed around & bullied by them. Many Xers make it 'interesting' for politicians as they have this tendency to sell their vote to the highest bidder, to distrust all governments, and to think public policy should be all about raising their disposable incomes, which they erode by greedy & dumb consumer decisions. Sorry to be so harsh kiddies - I'm not sure where the Mums & Dads went wrong. Perhaps not enough emphasis on the simple fact that little Johnnie or Jillie is not the centre of the universe? Who knows, but the damage has been done and now we can but mitigate the worst effects of their oh so important personal travails. The boomers meanwhile are OUT OF THERE, and the Y's are arming themselves and honing survival strategies.

Nice one Sandra,
Seems you touched a raw point with some of the replies.
QUESTION. Those complaining about high mortgages,why didn't you DO someting political about it. It was caused by high immigration policies you might have been able to reverse.

There will be a new opportunity to stand up when the decline in world oil supply grips before 2015.

Join a group. :)
Cheers

Generation X leads the way for generation y and below that’s what!

This is a generation that’s not about staying at home popping out one and rushing into marriage.

This is a generation that absorbs technology and understanding allot faster than the past gens.

People that you may or may not know do have conversations about the country and world in relation to politics that have a good understanding of what they are after when their time comes to take their place.

Gen Y and below are more in touch with life and earth embracing natural things and technological things as one.

This generation isn't going to wait as long as older generations to take hold and direct news directions for better outcomes.

It would be an interesting exercise to 'manufacture' human groups as if they are distinct from each other as has been done to differentiate BBs, Gen X and Gen Y: left-handers from right-handers, short versus tall people, thin versus fat, blondes versus brunettes versus redheads - if one could keep up a constant propaganda spin, I wonder how long before the irrelevant differences between these manufactured groups came to be generally considered to be 'fundamental differences'.

You can attribute all manner of correlation (and 'therefore' causality) to these fake differences: for example, left-handers make up about 12 % of the population, so left-handed women make up 6 % of the population. Notice that the REAL unemployment rate is much more likely to be 6 % than 5 % - so clearly left-handed women are pushing others out of employment, in some obscure way, and taking their jobs.

And of course, the real UNemployment and UNDERemployment rate combined is around 12 % - which is just about the same as the proportion of left-handers in the population - so clearly, there is some unspoken agreement amongst left-handers generally to ensure that their members are employed, even at the cost of employment for right-handers.

Another way to understand the machinations of category members to look after each other is shown by a break-down by hair-colour - around 15 % of Australians are blonde or fair-haired, and not coincidentally, 15 % of Australians earn over $ 200 grand p.a. Pure chance ? I think not.

And if you go to as restaurant and see a blonde person ordering a boiled egg, notice that they ALWAYS balance it on its pointy end. Now what does that tell you ? Yes, exactly, we don't have to go into details here. B@stards.

thank you Loudmouth, some sanity has prevailed in this debate!