Canadians richer than Americans for first time in history

tiguangna · 07-17-2012, 04:08 AM

I remember how Canada was heavily considered before... but now that Deferred Action came out, are you still considering it? Just saw this on the news:

Quote:

Americans may enjoy teasing and taunting their neighbours to the north but now the jokes on them.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202 compared to the average American household’s $319,970 worth, according to data published in Canada's Globe and Mail last month.

That gives the average Canadian $43,232 more than the average American. And the Globe and Mail pointed out 'these are not 60-cent dollars, but Canadian dollars more or less at par with the U.S. greenback.'

'And what do you know?' Business leaders hit back at Obama after he says the wealthy AREN'T responsible for their own success
Romney launches attack on Obama's 'crony capitalism' as critics of Republican's role in Bain furore refuse to back down

In a column for Bloomberg View, Stephen Marche, a Canadian novelist, sets out to explain how his country has stealthily crept up to overtake the U.S. in terms of a household's average net worth.

He rubs salt in the wound by also pointing out that the latest job figures show Canada’s unemployment rate has dropped to 7.2 per cent while America’s has remain stuck at 8.2 per cent.

Before setting out his argument for Canada’s triumph, Marche simply states: ‘The Canadian system is working; the American system is not.’

He boils down Canada’s success: ‘the stability of Canadian banks and the concomitant stability in the housing market provide the clearest explanation for why Canadians are richer than Americans today.’
asdf

Marche attributes Canada's economic success to the ‘hardheaded, fiscally conservative form of socialism’ that the country has pursued since the 1990s led by former finance minister Paul Martin.

He praises Martin’s ‘courageous’ decision to ban banks from merging, defying their chief executives who feared they would never be global competitors if they didn’t come together.

He continues on to cite a slash in funding to social programs and a cut in corporal taxes for bringing about a prosperous economic climate.

'The stability of Canadian banks and the concomitant stability in the housing market provide the clearest explanation for why Canadians are richer than Americans today,' he determines.

In a brief concession, Marche admits that luck, including the world’s third largest oil reserves and an abundance of natural resources, plays a part in the country’s economic success.

The Globe and Mail pinpoint Canada's triumph on 2008's economic crisis largely destroying the U.S. housing market making Canadian's real estate more valuable by an average of $140,000.

'Canadians hold more than twice as much real estate as Americans and, once mortgages are factored in, have almost four times as much remaining equity in their real estate. Americans’ liquid (non-real estate) assets are still greater than Canadians,' they reported.

circasurvive · 03:07 PM

Greeks were once richer than Americans as well. Didn't work out so well for them.

immigration truth · 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiguangna

I remember how Canada was heavily considered before... but now that Deferred Action came out, are you still considering it? Just saw this on the news:

As someone who is in Australia right now and could come back to uni in America if I felt like it, I can say this, America is a wonderful nation blessed with many powerful assets and strengths, but quite frankly it just seems too chaotic and uncertain right now which is why I'm going to finish college up here and then scan the situation in three years. Right now you guys have a critical election which could go either way, rising levels of income inequality beginning to resemble Latin American levels, a ballooning deficit and debt, and not only that but just an overall societal disconnect and disunity. The climbing obesity rates, the moral abandon, the anti intellectual attitudes, the lack of concern for climate change and the coming advent of peak oil. It's just a malaise i don't want to walk through at the moment. Australia and Canada right now are like America in the 80s and 90s, they're flying high, this may continue, it may not. But as for the moment, I don't want to risk a stable life here right now to jump right back into a nation that is literally just an exploding keg waiting to burn and crash.

eddy · 07-18-2012, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiguangna

I remember how Canada was heavily considered before... but now that Deferred Action came out, are you still considering it? Just saw this on the news:

That's why this site is hosted in Canada.

Ali · 07-18-2012, 07:51 PM

Canada's pretty coo...there's plenty of new money that's for sure, but all things considered it's expensive as balls. I don't care if Canucks make more than Americans if they are paying Luxemborg food prices. Housing is expectedly pricier because it takes energy to live up here, and understandably you'll have pricier heat pumps/furnaces/insulation/pipes 16 ft under etc.. than in some areas in the US.

I'll tell you one thing though, University education is way up there, the graduates are no joke and I'd be recruiting like a mofo up here if I had an American company. Also, 20 % obesity rate means half the fat chicks than the US.

They need you!

Forum links

Resources

Join our list

National calendar of events

July

Canadians richer than Americans for first time in history