The Alchemist said:

”From my experience, its the BB's who gave their children what they didn't have, its their kids and subsequent generations, that are sitting round saying, I want it and I want it now. What we wanted, was freedoms from sexual stereotyping, inequality, hunger and living from hand to mouth.”

As a child of the BB’s (who is desperately struggling financially) I agree with that 100%!

Most of my own generation make me sick! The majority of them are elitist Howard voters and many of them are members of the Young Liberals who are undoing all the work the BB’s did by fighting for social justice. Or at the very least, don’t care about the demise of social justice.

I see my own generation over-spending and not having ANY contentment with the simple things in life like I have learned to enjoy. They need the best car with the biggest stereo, a plasma screen TV, oh…the list just goes on and on….

For this reason I am ashamed of my own generation. So much so, that I have lost touch with many friends of mine who just go on and on about their shares and the stock market. Just keep going idiots and you’ll see your rights slip away further and further.

Although I will say that I do know a lot of BB’s that fit Judy’s description of them as well.

Further to this, I'd just like to add that I hope the generation after me continues the legacy of the BB's and fights for social justice.

Heck! They're gonna need to after the damage my selfish, elitist generation is about to inflict on this country.

My appologies to the people of my generation who aren't like this. We're a rarity.

I agree heartily with Alchemist and others.

I am a BB and there was nothing handed to me on a platter, nor any of the kids I grew up with. The generations following the BB's are the ones who demand, we have spoiled them. Our parents were so frugal post war (remember, they had been through the depression and rationing, credit or the never never was still spoken about in hushed tones. We stirred our tea with spoons from Coles, the silver only came out on Christmas day.

The BB's were the ones who made the noise to change our world, gaining equality for women, becoming politically aware and enjoying the fun ride of change which we were actively creating. The problem facing us now, is that we have cruised along, changing our lives, many times changing jobs and becoming multi skilled, only to find that we are expected to sit there and shut up like the 50's plus before us.

We are not prepared to do that, and nor should we.

It is time we started another movement, and have employers and Governments acknowledge that we are a fund of knowledge, have many skills, have survived relationship breakdowns, handled full time work and raising kids, and the list goes on. We need to regain our inner strength, our voice, and make a significant difference once again. Get us into those jobs, allow us to train younger people. The only job I could find last year was one I had to create - buying a business. Use us, we have much to offer. Wanting change is not being a brat. Was the writer of the article someone who never quite fitted in?


There may never be a 'tomorrow' for baby boomers, after all, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up! A spoiled brat? No bloody way. Too busy living.

Alchemist,tinkerbell1952, rossco and Kalweb, particularly Kalweb: you guys are displaying typical BBB behaviour: denial. Judy must have struck a nerve, and you respond with typical BBB behaviour. Listen to yourselves. "Nothing was handed to ME on a platter'. '...not having grown up in the middle classes with a silver spoon in my mouth..' 'I have worked hard all my life'.

Well, big whoop. Just have a good look at how your parents and grandparents lived. Did any of you experience a great war or great depression, where your whole life turned upside down and you were lucky just to survive? Thought not.

I too lived in straightened circumstances as a child in the 50s which if described, make me sound like a member of the Monty Python 4 Yorkshiremen sketch. Me and all my siblings, with middle of the road jobs, have material wealth my parents could not have dreamt of back then. And THAT is the story of the BB generation: unprecedented opportunity and reward for those who work. Don't deny it, we in our 50s and 60s are the luckiest generation in history.

Trouble is, too many BBs don't appreciate it. Too much of the 'me generation'. Try working in a service industry. It's the BBBs with their 'I want it, and I want it NOW'. This is not the story of other generations.

Judy is right. We BBs ARE lucky, and if we play our cards right, will keep right on being lucky. And if we are really clever, the successive generations will be no less lucky. Contemplate that.

We may be luckier than our parents, but I have not known many BB's to demand they want it NOW! My comment on not being served life on a silver platter is just that, a comment to say that there was no abject wealth with money flying around, getting anything we wanted. None of my comments were in the vein of me feeling I missed out. You have interpreted what you wanted to see in our comments. Defending BB's is not being in denial. I know what I lived and I know that what was in the article was not something I have seen much of in other BB's. Many BB's made their money through hard work,. Not many parents, post WW2, had a zac left over for us to even begin to demand. Maybe it was the circles I mixed in socially and in the workforce - but I met more BB's who had a great work ethic, than I met of those who demanded more and more and being a ME generation. Possibly those of us who fought for equal rights are still seen as being unreasonably demanding?

Possibly the demand for rights and equality, and those who strived to achieve this, is really the issue that burns bright in the article writers soul?

All this was before the Liberals took the fair go out back and shot it.

It beggars belief that people who received free university educations and affordable houses are the first to tut-tut about the lazy generations which followed.

Fair labour for a fair share is reasonable, but the spirit today is "never give a generation of suckers an even break". If you want to get off the ground floor: study by day, work in a minumium-wage service industry by night, then spend the first decade of your professional life paying off the HECS fee.

People under 45 are part of the community, not a cash cow to be bled dry in pursuit of larger share portfolios.