Analía Plaza: "Boomers will never acknowledge their privilege"

BarcelonaThe cannon life It's a song by the Madrid-based group Alcalá NorteBut it is also the expression chosen by journalist Analía Plaza to title her book – published by Temas de Hoy – and to describe the living conditions of a very specific generation as they reach old age: the baby boomersThose who, in the case of Spain, were born between 1957 and 1977. According to the data and profiles collected by the author, these individuals have already paid off their homes, enjoyed more stable careers than their children, and are now retiring with good pensions and a wealth of cultural experience.

Why do you think some people have felt attacked by this book?

— I expected it to have some impact, but I didn't understand why so many people felt attacked. Basically, what I've seen is that newsrooms are full of boomers, who are also quite privileged compared to younger journalists.

What are the common traits of Spanish boomers?

— What's obvious is the glorification of past struggles. There's a chapter called I was running ahead of the grays. It cracks me up that people who've clearly never been to a protest tell you this. An expert blurted it out to me in the first sentence, and I did the math, and it was impossible because he was 12 when they changed the uniform. Sometimes they think they're their parents, you know? They actually inherited a country in ruins, a dictatorship, and post-war hardship, but the boomers didn't. I'm not saying they didn't fight, but they often exaggerate their importance. Then there's the whole thing about effort and sacrifice. They think it defines them, that they've worked incredibly hard, and somehow they reproach the next generation for not having worked hard enough. And that's a lie.

He says that, on the other hand, millennials talk to him all the time about their privilege. Does the boomer need to take a hard look at himself?

— The word is self-criticism. They will never acknowledge their privilege—perhaps a little with housing—while for the millennial, Perhaps due to the circumstances of its time, the concept of privilege is incredibly pervasive. You're privileged because at least you have a job you love, at least you have an apartment and the rent doesn't go up...

What were the childhoods of the boomers like?

— I thought they would be worse, because I had in mind the story of migration from the countryside to the city, the peripheries, the shantytowns, the houses in the movie The 47But as a demographer told me, the boomers are a product of this. I thought I'd find many more people who had lived in shacks, but actually, most grew up in apartments. Yes, there were many children, and especially women who took care of their siblings, started working at fourteen, and couldn't study. I'm not saying there wasn't hunger, but real hunger shifted to the post-war period, not during the developmentalism.

When you ask a boomer how they accessed housing, they often emphasize that they were able to buy, but with very high interest rates.

— So what? But they could afford it. Sure, they had to give things up, but so did we. Interest rates are their only argument. There's a bit of everything, but I spoke with people who took out 10- or 15-year mortgages. You had two salaries, and paying the down payment wasn't so painful. There was also more affordable housing available, which you could sell after twenty years. I even met someone who made a masterstroke, buying for 3 million and selling for 20.

How have housing policies affected this generation?

— These are people who own at least one property, and this greatly influences the policies that are implemented or not implemented, because there's a prevailing narrative about the small property owner. It's easier to say that a vulture fund is bad than to say it about your neighbor Paco, who owns a small apartment and rents it out. When in reality, the interests of both are aligned. People get very offended because Paco could be you. Paco isn't Amancio Ortega, but even if he only earns 100 euros, deep down his interest in making the apartment profitable is the same as Blackstone's. There's a feeling of "I earned it, this is mine," and private property is practically untouchable.

It really has been so canon his lifeThere are also class differences.

— When I talk about life canon I'm referring to the current situation. It's not everyone, but there's a widespread profile that the Imserso program has become far too small for. That's why many regions are creating their own trips for people over 65. Until a few years ago, the popular image was that of a poor pensioner, an elderly person with a €600 pension who can't make ends meet. That still exists, but more and more people are now receiving pensions of €1,600, €1,700, or €2,000.

Those who fare the worst are boomer women, especially those who got divorced.

— Divorce is a very boomer thing, because many got married then, and then separation became more common with their generation. Boomer women grew up during that time of entering the workforce. The patriarchal, sexist structure of society continued to tell them they had to bear the weight of the household, like a superwoman who had to do absolutely everything. Here we see how they gave up their professional careers. In the end, the dream or profession that mattered was his. This has penalized those who have divorced.

The rhetoric of generational conflict has gained traction among some far-right figures, who blame baby boomers for the rising cost of pensions. Isn't that dangerous?

— In other countries, they're taking this much more seriously, also because their baby boomers are somewhat older. In the The New York Times You see articles saying, "Boomers, the American Dream has been destroyed." The focus of my book is the story of their generation. There's an oversimplification surrounding the pension issue. No one blames the pensioner, but it's important to understand the public spending being allocated. The European Union predicts that 2050 will be the peak of the boomer strain on the pension system, and 46% of Spain's tax revenue will go toward paying pensions.

How can we reform the system to make it sustainable?

— Experts from different political parties told me that it was obvious what was going to happen because all you had to do was look at the demographics. What both the PP and the PSOE have done is apply band-aids. The PP's policies focused more on containing spending, while the PSOE's, also to win over those votes, have been more expansionary. The experts told me that a review of the entire system is necessary, and this is where different models emerge. They talked a lot about the case of Sweden: workers contribute from their salaries to pay pensions, but there's also an individual savings component to compensate for shortfalls, which goes into a fund managed by a public entity, so it's not necessarily privatizing pensions. But I don't think anyone here is going to implement a reform.

What impact will the legacies of the boomers have on millennials and centrists?

— Many people already have a real estate relationship with their parents. Typically, someone who breaks up with their partner in their 30s moves back in with their parents for a while and saves for two or three years for a down payment on a home. But then there are those who are simply given an apartment. Given two people with the same profile and the same salary, if your parents pay for your house or rent you below market value, your salary automatically goes further. The issue of inheritance will have a significant impact; this inequality is already emerging.