North & South magazine October issue: The Generation Blame Game

Baby boomers: A bunch of greedy oldies robbing their children and grandchildren of a future in New Zealand? Or are Generations X and Y just whingers who should knuckle down and get on with it?

In North & South’s October cover story, Denis Welch takes an in-depth look at the issues surrounding our aging population, and who will pick up the tab.

Financial journalist and commentator Bernard Hickey argues that the baby boomers are committing “the crime of the century” right before our eyes – an act of “massive intergenerational theft”.

Hickey even encourages Gen X and Y to emigrate to escape the looming mess. And a mess is looming: Treasury projects that by 2010, one dollar in every five spent by the government will go on superannuation.

But, speaking for the boomers, MBA researcher Sharon Buckland reminds us of the days you had to beg for a second mortgage and interest rates skimmed 20 per cent. She also suggests the baby boomers will not all retire at 65, and their behaviour can’t be modelled on the generation that went before them.

We even get bloggers Chris Trotter and Tim Watkin wading in – having a go at each other from either sides of the generational debate.

Chasing the Pink Dollar
As October begins to glow pink for Breast Cancer Month – North & South asks what the breast cancer charities are doing with those millions of “pink dollars”. And are they getting more than their fair share of the charity dollar? Twice as many New Zealanders die from bowel cancer than breast cancer – and there’s no “brown ribbon” campaign.

The Murder and the Money
The death of undercover policeman Don Wilkinson has sparked a bitter family dispute over his estimated $2 million fortune. Donna Chisholm reports on this “double tragedy” for Wilkinson’s mother and relatives.

High Speed Fraud
More than $5m of investors’ money has gone, there was no miracle product in the safe – and still convicted fraudster Philip Whitley has his believers. Nelson-based writer Matt Philp traces the rise and fall of a high-tech fabulist. It’s an intriguing tale about a charismatic conman and how he convinced some smart people to invest in his billion-dollar breakthrough technology (that wasn’t).

Sour Grapes
New Zealand’s wine industry has been an economic star in the past decade but greed and global events have rapidly brought it back to earth. Mike White examines how things went so wrong down on the vineyard.

North & South October issue is on newsstands from September 13.