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Nov 1, 2023Liked by John Quiggin

I am the first to agree with you on this one, John. I am so tired of hearing the property debate characterised as wealthy boomers versus impoverished millennials. It ignores the reality that not only are there many boomers who don’t own homes and whose plight is dire, but also that most of the boomers who have done well out of property have millennial children who have received inter vivos gifts or will one day inherit. The media loves these tropes. I suspect because they get clicks but maybe also because they hide the egregiously inequitable wealth distribution in Australia and the emergence of a patrimonial society.

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author

Good catch! Mental typo there, should have been "first-born". Fixed now, I hope.

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<i>Early in that decade the youngest of the children born during the postwar baby boom began to challenge their parents with slogans like “Never trust anyone over thirty.”</i>

Early in that decade, "the youngest of the children born during the postwar baby boom" were not in any even to say “Never trust anyone over thirty (months),” not yet having been born!

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Good catch! Fixing this now

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Given the Darcy reference, I can't resist adding an OT: The word "condescension" means exactly the same thing today as it did in 1815: treating one's inferiors as if they were equals. In 1815, that was a praiseworthy character trait. Today, such behavior is considered, uh, condescending.

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