Envy

Aged 30, the song sang of
blame,
misunderstanding
of each generation deriding the one before.
We were homeowners by then
clamped to work and bank by interest rates
14.75%, down from 15.25%
how we rejoiced at the fall – the odd bottle of wine
limbo danced under the fiscal door.
And
clenched teeth at our parents generation –
government assistance to first home buyers
3% state backed loans
Keynesian benevolence underwriting full employment.

A mortgage repaid lifetime later
a friend’s 21-year-old
inventories the financial yokes of his generation :
student loans
high housing costs
health insurance,
his peers will do it tough he says because
the baby boomers fucked it up –
eating the goose that laid the golden egg.