Has Life Got Worse In The Last 10/15 Years

[goldilocksporridge]

We generally assume that - life gets better for each new generation, and that they are better off than the people before them

I am reminiscing about music from the 90s/early 2000s and the times, the nights out, there seemed to more optimism about for the future - were now stuck with uncertain futures, slow economic growth, endless recession and personal debt, a miserable selfish culture of consumerism, a miserable fake drab dull work office culture, an expected culture of overwork for lowish wages, house prices and other living costs have risen since lets say early 2000s but salaries have not risen than much.

Ok the internet, lots of toys like ipods, and more crap to buy, cheap flights, flat screen TVs, but beyond that - is a 22 yr old better off than now than say a 22 yr old in 1998.

people in their 20s , are stuck with high house prices, lots of student debt, and a lack of jobs for the future - but they don't seem to care.

[Executive Sadman]

Its got better if you have no intelligence, no aspiration, no creativity, no imagination, and are irresponsible

Its got worse if you are the opposite to the above.

Most people are the former though, so i suppose things are better than 15 years ago. Dont worry though, it will get worse for everyone eventually.

[200p]

We generally assume that - life gets better for each new generation, and that they are better off than the people before them

I am reminiscing about music from the 90s/early 2000s and the times, the nights out, there seemed to more optimism about for the future - were now stuck with uncertain futures, slow economic growth, endless recession and personal debt, a miserable selfish culture of consumerism, a miserable fake drab dull work office culture, an expected culture of overwork for lowish wages, house prices and other living costs have risen since lets say early 2000s but salaries have not risen than much.

Ok the internet, lots of toys like ipods, and more crap to buy, cheap flights, flat screen TVs, but beyond that - is a 22 yr old better off than now than say a 22 yr old in 1998.

people in their 20s , are stuck with high house prices, lots of student debt, and a lack of jobs for the future - but they don't seem to care.

Wait until people have lost everything. The student protests are a good sign theres still independent thinking out there.

[200p]

Why is it new cars use halogen light bulbs? They only last 6 months. Crap or what?

In my first car, a Ford Escort, I did not have to replace my head lamps for years.

Nothing is built to last so the rent seekers keep you sucking on the teat. Can anyone suggest a way to retrorfit "H7" bulb sockets?

[200p]

Old fitting on a 1990 Ford Escort

New "H4" fitting on newer cars

[Lagarde's Drift]

It's just the ebb and flow of life. The last 10 years have been amazing for me and is likely to get even better. On a country-wide society level I think it's been generally much better for most people, quality of life is significantly better compared to the last century.

However, for a minority of people things are perceived to be worse. These are the people who have led themselves to believe they should have a certain quality of life for a certain effort, and have found that the effort required is increasing. In short the hamster wheel is moving faster but they aren't going anywhere. I'm not sure if this section of society is entitled to feel aggrieved, ala students, or should shut up and be grateful for what they have, probably a bit of both.

Someone's already mentioned that there are those who have the hamster wheel turned for them whilst they enjoy the good life, but it doesn't really apply to us on this site and thread.

Edit: I share your grief about headlamps. My 2000 Audi head bulbs cost £2.50 (cheaper if part of a set) and 5 minutes to change. I dread to think what a newer car would cost now using a dealer.

[200p]

The old bulbs maybe £5. New H7 bulbs from Halfords, £16.99 for a pair, or £9.99 for ONE (cheapest). There're actually cheaper online, or from the petrol station, £5.10 for one. But they don't last long.

---

Life has got better if you conform, and don't ask questions, and don't mind paying for everything more often.

[ccc]

Why is it new cars use halogen light bulbs? They only last 6 months. Crap or what?

In my first car, a Ford Escort, I did not have to replace my head lamps for years.

Nothing is built to last so the rent seekers keep you sucking on the teat. Can anyone suggest a way to retrorfit "H7" bulb sockets?

I have a pretty old VW but even still I have to take it to the garage to get a bulb changed. You have to undo and then re-attach the throttle cable to change the front right bulb ?!

Apparently not a huge thing to do but if you hav enot been shown I imagine it would take you a while. Easier just to pay them that tenner to do it for you. How convinient. Oh wait a minute....seems almost planned.

[200p]

Ask Jeremy Clarkson, he has always stipulated Mercedes cars are not the quality cars they once were!

Oh VW were well ahead of their time

[Errol]

Yes, is the simple answer. Without doubt.

[ccc]

Ask Jeremy Clarkson, he has always stipulated Mercedes cars are not the quality cars they once were!

Oh VW were well ahead of their time

Yep and this is a car from 99

I was very impressed. It's that German forward thinking and planning for you.

[Kyoto]

I think it's very much a personal thing. I too look back on that sense of optimism and excitement, but I was of course 10/15 years younger so it's hard to know.

I think I would rather have graduated 10 years ago rather than today with less debt, better prospects, and pre housing bubble.

But by the same token, I do like some of the trappings of today - cheap flights, apple gadgets, and most of all, free porn on the Internet.

As ever, I think if you've got plenty of money then it's a great time to be alive today. For the average man on the street or a small family though, living standards have net been on the decline.

Having said this, quality of life is probably 99% dictated by your own outlook. If you are a positive and driven, person then all of the external stuff is probably of limited consequence.

[Pole]

I am reminiscing about music from the 90s/early 2000s and the times, the nights out, there seemed to more optimism about for the future

The biggest change when it comes to music was replacing vinyl records with CDs and now with mp3s. It's been a huge downgrade in terms of the musicality of the medium. Music on CDs or mp3 is like photoshoped photos. It's too perfect and therefore not real at all and removes most of the joy from listening to music.

Most of the really great pop/rock music comes from the vinyl times (till around 1995). Most of the pop/rock music now is getting so much worse. And these days the mastering of songs is simply tragic (loudness war).

So, to sum up, things got really worse in the last 10/15 years when it comes to quality popular music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTniz71YCpY

[6538]

We generally assume that - life gets better for each new generation, and that they are better off than the people before them

I am reminiscing about music from the 90s/early 2000s and the times, the nights out, there seemed to more optimism about for the future - were now stuck with uncertain futures, slow economic growth, endless recession and personal debt, a miserable selfish culture of consumerism, a miserable fake drab dull work office culture, an expected culture of overwork for lowish wages, house prices and other living costs have risen since lets say early 2000s but salaries have not risen than much.

Ok the internet, lots of toys like ipods, and more crap to buy, cheap flights, flat screen TVs, but beyond that - is a 22 yr old better off than now than say a 22 yr old in 1998.

people in their 20s , are stuck with high house prices, lots of student debt, and a lack of jobs for the future - but they don't seem to care.

They probably don't. Like you say, there's loads of toys to buy and some things are still actually cheaper than they were years ago. Used cars are certainly cheaper than when I started driving. You can get a useable old car for under a grand, even as little as 500 quid, but I don't remeber that being the case 20 years ago. I think that lots of food items are chepaer too.

True, house prices are high but they will come down. I don't think we'll see a massive crash as it would have happend by now. I think though that we are going to see more long-term renters, rather than buyers though.

[6538]

Wait until people have lost everything. The student protests are a good sign theres still independent thinking out there.

Sorry, they aren't. They are a sign that there's still socialist thinking out there and that lots of people still think that they should get anything they like out of the state for free. It's actually a lack of independent thinking, or at least independent drive and ambition.

[Pole]

Sorry, they aren't. They are a sign that there's still socialist thinking out there and that lots of people still think that they should get anything they like out of the state for free. It's actually a lack of independent thinking, or at least independent drive and ambition.

So, according to the above, our bankers are the biggest socialists out there!

[6538]

So, according to the above, our bankers are the biggest socialists out there!

Perhaps not to far from the truth?

[Riedquat]

Sorry, they aren't. They are a sign that there's still socialist thinking out there and that lots of people still think that they should get anything they like out of the state for free. It's actually a lack of independent thinking, or at least independent drive and ambition.

No, that's not socialist thinking. Socialist thinking is that it's not right to let a few screw everyone over for their own gain. What generally gets labelled as socialist thinking is the plain old lazy slob want-everything-done-for-me attitude that's plagued certain parts of society in recent years. The fact that Labour have supported this at one end (whilst encouraging the screw-you atttitude at the other) is partially why it gets blamed on socialism, but Labour have hardly been socialists. Socialist thinking is that everyone should pull their own weight and help everyone else. It fails because far too many people are far too selfish and greedy, with the result that they won't do more than the minimum they can get away with, what with the opportunity to screw others over easily for their own gain removed. In turn you have a few organising the whole thing who don't like that so they start bullying people to do what they think they should be doing, and the whole thing fails badly and becomes nothing like it's supposed to be. Well, I suppose that's more communism than socialism, but the former is a more extreme version of the latter

[Milton]

No, that's not socialist thinking. Socialist thinking is that it's not right to let a few screw everyone over for their own gain. What generally gets labelled as socialist thinking is the plain old lazy slob want-everything-done-for-me attitude that's plagued certain parts of society in recent years. The fact that Labour have supported this at one end (whilst encouraging the screw-you atttitude at the other) is partially why it gets blamed on socialism, but Labour have hardly been socialists. Socialist thinking is that everyone should pull their own weight and help everyone else. It fails because far too many people are far too selfish and greedy, with the result that they won't do more than the minimum they can get away with, what with the opportunity to screw others over easily for their own gain removed. In turn you have a few organising the whole thing who don't like that so they start bullying people to do what they think they should be doing, and the whole thing fails badly and becomes nothing like it's supposed to be. Well, I suppose that's more communism than socialism, but the former is a more extreme version of the latter

A more accurate description of Labour, for the millions priced out of housing, would be, [Economic] Fascists.

[The Labour Party are directly responsible for inflating the biggest asset bubble in History. The Housing Market.]

Labour then transferred that debt onto everyone else in society.

So our money is being stolen, through QE, Low IR, increased taxes, mortgate relief, etc, to pay for this toxic mortgage debt, to bail out the banks. In effect, our money is being de-valued and stolen to pay for other peoples houses.

Whilst keeping houses massively overinflated, and ensuring millions can never afford their own small house.

Obviously not a 'socialist' or 'democratic' act.

The Labour party has implemented policies which support one section of a society, to the extreme detriment of another section of that society [via blatant theft and cronyism]

People think the cuts and the pain are just arriving now. Try working for nothing, for over a decade, and being utterly ignored. No capital. Its soul destroying. [How many who own houses, could afford their houses if they had to buy them right now?]

The most notable characteristic of a FASCIST ideology is the separation and persecution or denial of equality to a specific segment of the population.

The preferred class lives in relative comfort, while the oppressed class lives in a Fascist state.

Labour's Fascist State.

PFI was used by Labour as a perfect FASCIST tool.

The equity in the rebuilding of the M40 has been sold at least five times. With different building contractors making huge profits. One company sold a prison for six times what it had paid. Etc, Etc....

Brown just let it continue......

It is a sign of a FASCIST government when government and business are merged in such a way.

[One group of Bankers/Finaciers walked away from one PFI deal with 662% profit]

By the time Brown stopped being Chancellor he had lumbered £54billion in debt just for the cost of buildings onto the taxpayer.

[in reality, to repay that debt will be closer to £160Billion]

Fascists seek to organize a nation according to CORPORATIST perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy

Fascists tend to support a "third position" in economic policy, which they believe superior to both the rampant individualism of laissez-faire capitalism and the severe control of state socialism.

One of the most prominent forms of corporatism is economic TRIPARTISM involving negotiations between business, labour, and state interest groups to set economic policy. Italian Fascism and most other fascist movements promote a corporatist economy.

New Labour are Economic Fascists. A number of noted scholars have come to this conclusion in their own publications regarding New Labour.....

[goldilocksporridge]

They probably don't. Like you say, there's loads of toys to buy and some things are still actually cheaper than they were years ago. Used cars are certainly cheaper than when I started driving. You can get a useable old car for under a grand, even as little as 500 quid, but I don't remeber that being the case 20 years ago. I think that lots of food items are chepaer too.

True, house prices are high but they will come down. I don't think we'll see a massive crash as it would have happend by now. I think though that we are going to see more long-term renters, rather than buyers though.

Perhaps they do know, just below the fascade of the latest ipod, xbox game or a cheap weekend away in poland, Celebrity Culture etc. They know there the future is less job security, competition, high property prices and an economy/system which is not working in there favour - but what are they to do, no point complaining whose is going to listen and you'd look like a loser and boring, and there all in competition with the peers for jobs, careers etc - Better to keep face, and put a outward appearance of everything being wonderful. Perhaps life is just that bit more competitive now.

yes certainly things are cheaper, perhaps more spending money, but fixed costs for people have gone up and social spending has gone down. You can get music, films on the net, and tv has got a bit better, more choice in music, maybe quality has gone down, better anti depressants, price of alcohol has gone down. Politics has gone downhill.

[winkie]

Some things are better, most things are worse......People have more of an entitled attitude, a right to this and a right to that.....less of a caring society, less community feel, more selfishness about....more rules, regulations, red tape and bureaucracy, more large corporations taking control, less competition...less customer service.

Money and how to extract it has become the priority....loyalty is a dirty word.

[Reck B]

I think the rapid communications, rolling news and access to instant information of today have had a major impact on life, not necessarily for the better.

I'm really going to try to limit how much news I take in next year because;

1) most news is bad news

and

2) you can't really do much about it anyway

I'm sure this has a negative psychological effect on people. The problem is

1) you can't get away from it (e.g i listen to 6 music which is a music station. Why do they have to have news bulletins?)

and

2) It's quite addictive for some perverse reason.

Also, i think, whereas, say 40 years ago, people would carve out a long term career for themselves and gradually work their way up an industry at a steady pace, these days, instant communication to pretty much unlimited people have meant that there are a growing number of people who want to get rich quick and now have the means and to hell with the consequences.--- See the banking crisis.

As a society, I wish we'd all just slow down a bit and focus on the things you can make a difference to -family, friends career... keep your focus and efforts closer to home.

This is why I hate globalism and would prefer things to go the other way to a much greater extent. i like what the Tories are pushing - more local accountability and power to the people. (do they really mean it though?) As an individual in a sovereign country you have limited say as it is, as an individual in a global setting, you've even less

[Pole]

I think the rapid communications, rolling news and access to instant information of today have had a major impact on life, not necessarily for the better.

I'm really going to try to limit how much news I take in next year because;

1) most news is bad news

and

2) you can't really do much about it anyway

I'm sure this has a negative psychological effect on people.

This is why I hate globalism and would prefer things to go the other way to a much greater extent. i like what the Tories are pushing - more local accountability and power to the people. (do they really mean it though?) As an individual in a sovereign country you have limited say as it is, as an individual in a global setting, you've even less

+1

Psychologists are in agreement with you:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200#

[Reck B]

+1

Psychologists are in agreement with you:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6127548813950043200#

looks interesting - will watch it later thanks.

[athe]

Why is it new cars use halogen light bulbs? They only last 6 months. Crap or what?

In my first car, a Ford Escort, I did not have to replace my head lamps for years.

Nothing is built to last so the rent seekers keep you sucking on the teat. Can anyone suggest a way to retrorfit "H7" bulb sockets?

Do you make sure that you don't touch the glass with your fingers when you install them? Skin oil and/or salts supposedly drastically shorten the life of the bulbs. I've also seen it suggested that you should clean the bulb glass with propanol after installation (but presumably before putting it into the headlight casing) to remove any oily contamination that did get on them.

For what it's worth, the halogens in my car are at least 7 years old, as that's when I bought it and they haven't needed replacing.