Who should pay for austerity?

Last week’s Autumn statement from the Chancellor prompted BBC Radio 4 magazine programme Broadcasting House to feature a ‘Balloon Debate’ this morning.

As well as 90 year old Dennis Andrews (representing older pensioners) and Rosamund Urwin (a “generation” Y journalist from the Evening Standard) the Baby Boomer Generation was represented by our own Nick Bamford.

Each participant started with a statement as to why their generation should not suffer the worst of the tax cuts needed to sort out our economy and then answered a question from David Smith, the Economics Editor of the Sunday Times.

David would then decide who should be thrown out of the metaphorical balloon.

Nick pointed out that the Baby Boomer generation had enjoyed both the benefits of a rising property market and to some extent superior pension planning opportunities but that they had also had to deal with periods of high inflation, high interest rates and high unemployment.

Baby Boomers also represented the sandwich generation, working on how they might pass on wealth to the younger generations and at the same time many of them having the responsibility to assist their elderly parents.

David’s question accused the Baby Boomer generation of having “eaten all the pies of free healthcare and education” but Nick robustly defended this by stating that whilst the Boomers had indeed enjoyed some of the pie “they had also put most of it in the fridge for Generation Y to enjoy with a few pieces set aside to share with elderly pensioners.”

Despite this David decided that it would be the Baby Boomers who would be thrown out of the balloon ( a metaphor for paying tax to sort out our economic problems).

Nobly, David agreed, as a Boomer himself, to link arms with Nick and jump alongside him!!

A lighthearted debate about a serious problem.

You can listen to the show here with this segment appearing at 12 minutes 28 seconds.

Who should pay for austerity? Who would you have thrown out of the balloon?

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