• Search
    • Sign up for our newsletter
    CANADALAND
    #49 The Geritocracy
    Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation ever while young Canadians are increasingly poor and in debt. Yet the federal government spends four times as much on the average senior citizen each year as it does on the average 24-year-old. Eric Swanson of Generation Squeeze is fighting an uphill battle to even the scales.

    Episode Rundown

    00:00 Sigh, here is the Wente column in question (link)

    02:27 Read about how old people make it rain here (link)

    03:20 Eric Swanson and Generation Squeeze (link)

    04:53 “It is hilarious to me that you’re doing Generation Squeeze, talking about this intergenerational disparity from this city (Victoria). This is a crazy wrinkly city.” Jesse

    05:40 “The statistics (link ) show that their (Boomers) network is growing largely in part to housing pricing increasing. But the primary driver of wealth for the Baby Boomers is the primary source of debt for young Canadians as we struggle to get into the housing market and deal with low wages and higher costs of things other than housing.” Swanson

    06:04 “Wait, say that again. Our debt is their wealth?” Jesse

    07:19 “The government is spending $45,000 a year on Canadians over 65 and 12,000 on average on those of us under 45. So a senior citizen in this country is worth more like double what a person my age is worth.” Jesse

    Numbers cited here (link)

    08:44 “It used to be there was an average 5 year wait to put down and down payment to buy a house. Now it’s 15 years.” Jesse

    “15 in B.C, 10 across Canada.” Swanson

    09:47 “I talked before about how the Globe and Mail is obsessed with bashing younger people. Just a cursory look,  but look at these:

    Why can’t we take gen Y seriously? (link)

    Inside the Entitlement Generation (link)

    If millennials want to lead they need to stop abandoning ship. (contains)  “…a nation of workers who only have loyalty to themselves” (link)

    It’s actually like bullying, it’s like you’re picking on poor people.” Jesse

    12:51 “I think we’re totally partially to blame, as a generation. Democracy belongs to those that show up.” Swanson

    17:29 “Build an app for it, the kids love apps” Jesse. I knew you were being facetious but God that made my eye’s roll into the back of my skull.

    18:20 “ I think when you find younger people engage, they get engaged in big picture things. And they get engaged in social justice issues. It used to be about politics benefiting you.” Jesse

    29:05 “New Canada vs Old Canada….that can afford it” Jesse

    September 21, 2014
    Share
    More from this series
    #792 Education: What Is It Good For?
    Funding cuts, tuition increases and staff layoffs. What's going on with post-secondary institutions in Alberta?
    June 27, 2022
    #790 The Dubious Botanist
    Steven Newmaster, a botany professor, once shone a light on the nutritional supplement industry and called them frauds. Now, the light is being shone on him by his colleagues. And boy, buckle up because this story is a wild ride.
    June 20, 2022
    #788 The Baristas Vs. Starbucks
    A wave of retail and service sector workers are unionizing their workplaces, pushing back against anti-union practices. Why is this happening now? And can workers win in the long run?
    June 13, 2022
    #786 Digging For Doubt
    Ostensibly the idea was to do media criticism. That is what the article, The Year Of The Graves, in the National Post set out to do: correct errors in how the discovery of unmarked graves was reported. But that was not its impact.
    June 6, 2022
    #784 Sea Wolves, Oil Snakes
    A field report from coast Salish territory on the irreconcilable conflict between the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project. There are 73 remaining Southern Resident Killer Whales in existence. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation consider the survival of these orcas and the survival of their people to be the same thing. The government insists a compromise can be met. The Tsleil-Waututh reject this notion, and many are prepared to die in defense of their "wolves of the sea". Brandi Morin reports.
    May 30, 2022
    #782 The Weird History Of Vancouver’s Italian Press
    A look at the wonderfully bizarre history of Vancouver’s warring Italian-language newspapers.
    May 23, 2022
    #780 Medusa
    Operation Medusa has become the most celebrated battle in recent Canadian history. It was hailed as a stroke of military genius that may have vanquished the Taliban once and for all. But that was never the whole story.
    May 16, 2022
    #778 Abortion Rights In Canada Didn’t Come Easy
    With the seemingly imminent repeal of Roe v. Wade in the United States, it's time to refamiliarize ourselves with Canada's long-fought history for abortion access.
    May 9, 2022
    all podcasts arrow All Podcasts
    CANADALAND