Insecure, Pressured, Over-taxed and Debt-ridden Youth (IPOD)

Insecure, Pressured, Over- imposeed and Debt-ridden Youth (IPOD)THE IPOD GENERATIONThe younker adults of today, the under-35s, argon often referred to as the IPOD times. This both connects them with the latest technology and design that the sleek IPOD represents, and according to David metalworker in a recent article in the Sunday Times, stands as an acronym for dubious, pushd, over appraiseed, and debt-ridden. Labels such as these indicate a coevals that is experiencing and environment and reaction both negative to itself and to the future prosperity of Britain. They call to app arnt movement both whether the current situation could hasten been avoided, and what can be done to more fully amalgamate the IPOD generation into British prosperity now.It is perhaps easiest to consider the four labels of the IPOD acronym in reverse order. First, the generation is debt-ridden. This is due(p) non only if to an increase in ease of acquiring consumer recognise, but also to changi ng attitudes about debt and an increase in teachingal costs. Credit is easier to obtain than ever before, with many an(prenominal) if the IPOD generation having multiple conviction cards and getting them whilst still in school. Various banks and lending institutions, who make spunky profits from consumers carrying course credit balances on such cards, often target adolescent adults who may not be ready to responsibly manage debt. Where once new(a) adults assumed they would need to work and save to emulate their parents standardizeds of living, todays young adults are encouraged towards immediate gratification. They can buy a car on credit, fill the tank on credit, furnish their first place on credit, and so on until their credit limits are reached. Then they are strapped, spending years bearing off a quick path to a higher standard of living.Additionally, many young adults leave university with high student loan debt. This reflects both a change in education and a change i n the overall British delivery. At one time there were well-paying jobs for those chose not to attend university. Many could enter into manufacturing and similar positions with an expectation of job stability and reasonable pay and job security. However, in the past twenty years the British economy has shifted. Many of these secure manufacturing jobs have been transferred to Asia and similar countries, where companies can secure workers for much disdain wages. Computers and technology have changed the face of many of the jobs that remain, requiring a higher educational level for those wanting a reasonable wage. As a result, the number of young adults going on to university has increased eight times over since the 1960s. Although they feel it necessary to extend their education to have any shot at a well-paying job, this has made university education more commonplace and thus worth less(prenominal) in the marketplace. Most students have responsibility for some or all of their e ducational expenses, and resort to loans.Many of the IPOD generation are therefore leaving university having pounds ten or twenty kelvin or more in student debt without the job prospects previous generations enjoyed. They spend years in touch-and-go positions, combating their acquired debt and high rents. The property ladder is not notwithstanding a consideration, at least not for many years.To make matters more difficult, the IPOD generation is also over-taxed. This is the first generation who is on the losing end of the welfare bargain, who allow pay more into the system than they receive from it. First, the large number of aging baby boomers require great expenditures by the government on health care and pensions. This requires current workers, including young adults, to shoulder a great share of the tax burden. This is possible to only become worse over the next two decades, and politicians handle to be slow to cater to the needs of young adults, as the IPOD generation i s both fewer and less presumable to vote than their older counterparts. Young adults also receive fewer gets from the state. They are not only expected to pay for their own education, as mentioned above, but health care and pension costs antecedently mentioned leave less money for new(prenominal) government programmes that might benefit them. Their tax burden, therefore, is disproportionate and a great hamperance to their full integration into and enjoyment of sparing opportunities.A combination of these high taxes and debt leave the IPOD generation pressured. There is a societal expectation that they should be exceeding their parents in lifestyle and success, yet safe(p) jobs are few and they have greater obligations from society economically. They must learn to juggle high debt and high taxes at increasingly an young age, often with little hope of escape from such a situation. For example, sorrowful to another part of the country with lower taxes also typically means fewer j ob prospects and those jobs having lower wages.In addition, some believe the integration of the UK into the European Union also puts pressure on the IPOD generation. On one hand, British participation opens the opportunities for companies to sell product in a wider market. However, this is more likely to benefit business owners, whom are typically of the older generations, rather than entry-level workers. Increased opening of British job markets to other Europeans actually increases the number of potential workers. This also disproportionately affects younger adults, as workers from some other countries go out compete for entry-level and less-skilled jobs, and are often go forthing to work at much lower wages. This means young adults from Poland, for example, can compete for British jobs, although British young adults are unlikely to benefit similarly from job opportunities in Poland. Such political changes in the both the UK and global environment put additional pressure on the I POD generation.All the above leaves the young adults of today increasingly insecure. They can no longer count on job opportunities, tear down if they have invested the time and expense in additional education. Debt and high tax burdens leave todays young adults with less available capital, and less prospect of available capital. This makes them less inclined to guess or to venture into entrepreneurial activity. The IPOD generation in Britain are not only less likely to engage in entrepreneurial pursuits than previous generations, but, according to Smiths report in the Sunday Times, less likely than youth in America, Australia, New Zealand, or Ireland. This indicates such insecurity is particularly a British phenomena, even with the number of wider economic shifts that contribute.Concerns are rising of the squeeze of all of this on the future of the British economy. An insecure generation that does not create business also does not create jobs or a tax base. Over time, this furth er opens British markets to competition from non-British firms. The economy begins to slide, increasing the tax burden on those who are working or trying to develop business pursuits, which hampers their success and makes other potential British entrepreneurs even more insecure and adverse to risk. This has the potential to become a downward circle, with continuing negative clash on the UK economy as a whole and the IPOD generation in particular.Whilst there are sure steps that could have been undertaken to lessen the pressure on the IPOD generation, as noted above some of the impact is simply the result of economic and demographic shifts in the economy. In regard to debt, tighter government regulation of credit and tighter credit requirements would reduce debt in the IPOD generation, as would increased government investment in higher education, and programmes to allow other job skills as an alternative to university. Certainly the government could have also anticipated rising he alth and pension costs and taken steps to alleviate some of tax burden on todays young adults. Instead, the government appears to be making decisions based on current votes, rather than future economic needs. Increasing affordable housing or programmes for new businesses would additionally address the pressure and insecurity experienced by the IPOD generation. However, all these require both advance planning and the willingness of the government to make difficult decisions that will be also undoubtedly unpopular to older people. Politically, this appears unlikely, although such steps could still be undertaken now. any(prenominal) possible avenues to address the needs of the IPOD generation, however, are being considered. A Reform study of the problems facing the IPOD generation contradict Tony Blairs agenda to increase school leavers who pursue additional education to fifty percent. That plan, the study contends, would spring the job market with over-educated workers who will not b e able to get ample return on their educational investment. The Reform study instead recommends focusing on increasing job skills based on the countrys economic needs.Suggestions include changing recruitment of school leavers and job seekers to assist young adults in securing stable, fair paying employment, and implementing apprenticeship plans where young adults can develop job skills postulate by the current and future economy without incurring high debt or investing potential earning years in university education that may not provide the same return that it did for previous generations. Both these suggestions would be a step towards assisting the IPOD generation in becoming more economically viable, but larger issues requiring government intervention, as discussed above, are additionally needed to truly address the situation.