Elderly Spend Your Money!

The call by Prime Minister Mark Rutte that people must buy a house or a car, is mainly meant for older people. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Minister of Finance said this in an interview with Vrij Nederland. “The story of Rutte can hardly apply to young people, especially for young people who bought a house in recent years. Especially the older generations had a great possibility in the past 20, 30 years, to build up capital, for instance from their house. That capital we would like to be mobilized. Spend it, invest, give it to your children,” says Dijsselbloem. Leader Henk Krol of 50Plus says that there is indeed ‘a small group of elderly’ that could spend more to stimulate the economy. “But the government must then make spending fiscally attractive.” 50Plus proposed last week to put gifts from grandparents to their grandchildren under a favorable tax regime. 'Absurd statement' Liane den Haan, director of elderly union ANBO speaks of a "thoughtless, idiotic and absurd" statement of the Minister. “According to the Minister, elderly have accumulated a large capital. If that is so, then that is stuck in their house,” says den Haan. “In addition, elderly have been hit hard by the accumulation of cuts in recent years.” The Protestant Christian Elderly Association (PCOB) agrees with den Haan. “Some of the elderly have indeed had the opportunity to build up capital,” says a spokesman. “But that does not mean that all elderly have a lot of capital. People should also have the freedom to decide what they want to do with their money. Panic Dijsselbloem revealed in the interview to be very surprised about the criticism he received in the spring after an interview with Reuters and the Financial Times about the salvation of Cyprus. Dijsselbloem said, as chairman of the Eurogroup, that investors and large account holders also have to pay for the costs if their bank is in trouble. The statement caused turmoil in the financial markets and Dijsselbloem was heavily criticized, including in the media. He would have caused panic. Dijsselbloem: "I found those reactions really staggering. Journalists - and really not the least – wrote and told, en masse, that I shouldn’t have spoken out these words and that I should have lied instead.