Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 160 posts

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#131

Post by mensetmanusman »

grecy wrote: post #18
product50 wrote: post #3

And then you realize that the population of Canada is 10% of US. Canada should be compared to the Nordic countries vs. US in terms of quality of life etc.

I have never understood why people assume that just because the US is bigger than other OECD countries that it can't have the same levels of happiness, or the same quality/cost of healthcare and education etc. Why do you think the US should aim lower simply because it has more people? Why don't you think per-capita comparisons are valid? If anything, the US should be better than smaller OECD countries because it gets…

One reason is that quality of life improvements often manifest as some form of technological infrastructure (housing, medicine, goods, roads, clean pipes, etc.).

Population matters less than investment per capital per unit area (because people take up real space).

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#132

Post by [deleted] »

fujiters wrote: post #126
vkou wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This advice sounds just as great today as it did in Vancouver, 15 years ago. In the meantime, inflation-adjusted housing prices more than doubled. Pretty much everyone and everyone would have been better off not following your advice. And today, in 2019 there is still no clear transition path out of the current horrorshow that is the property market. Prices are not coming down, nobody sees any mechanism by which they…

If things get seriously unaffordable as a renter, it's always possible to move somewhere more affordable. Housing, on average, rises at the rate of inflation (it's closely linked to the cost of new construction), per Robert Shiller's research. Even if the housing market explodes in one area, there's almost certainly another area where it hasn't (normally one without restrictions on new construction-San Fransisco bein…

[deleted]

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#133

Post by vkou »

fujiters wrote: post #126
vkou wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This advice sounds just as great today as it did in Vancouver, 15 years ago. In the meantime, inflation-adjusted housing prices more than doubled. Pretty much everyone and everyone would have been better off not following your advice. And today, in 2019 there is still no clear transition path out of the current horrorshow that is the property market. Prices are not coming down, nobody sees any mechanism by which they…

If things get seriously unaffordable as a renter, it's always possible to move somewhere more affordable. Housing, on average, rises at the rate of inflation (it's closely linked to the cost of new construction), per Robert Shiller's research. Even if the housing market explodes in one area, there's almost certainly another area where it hasn't (normally one without restrictions on new construction-San Fransisco bein…

Affordable places don't have jobs. This is not a trend that's reversing anytime soon.

> Housing, on average, rises at the rate of inflation

I don't care about the price of the average house in the country. I care about the price of a house within a commuting distance of where I can find gainful employment.

Right now, the prices of homes in those areas are skyrocketing, while the prices of homes in areas that don't have gainful employment are nosediving. Take the average, and you'll find that it tracks inflation... And is a worthless metric.

> Even if the housing market explodes in one area, there's almost certainly another area where it hasn't

Yes, and none of those areas are ones where young people can make a living.

The socially optimal thing would of course be for retirees to consider selling their million-dollar coastal metro homes and move to cheaper areas, like the interior. But as long as they have access to HELOCs, they don't feel any pressure to do them. They can just borrow money against their million-dollar home, instead of downsizing. This is also not going anywhere. It would be political suicide to force grandma and grandpa to move to the boonies, just so that their grandkids, who need to work in the city could afford to live in it.

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#134

Post by ska »

luckylion wrote: post #125
ska wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's again not quite that simple. Canada's asylum acceptance rate is higher than the US. However, due to a bilateral policy change in I think 2009 asylum seekers could no longer pass overland through the US and apply in Canada. This reduced the asylum seeker rates from south/central America and Mexico a fair bit to Canada as they were forced to apply in US. Outside of just asylum seekers, although successful immigrat…

> Canada's asylum acceptance rate is higher than the US. Canada decides who comes to Canada to apply though (via resettlement programs where the seekers have been referred by a third party like UNHCR), it's generally not that people just walk across the border as they do in Europe or the US. If you can choose, for example, to resettle a bunch of academics and their families from Afghanistan, you are in a very differe…

That's mostly true these days although more people did used to just show up at borders and ports of entries, prior to the policy changes I mentioned.

There has been an uptick in recent years also, primarily from the US (but also some sea ports).

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#135

Post by WkndTriathlete »

lostgame wrote: post #65
sysbin wrote: post #45

Canada is tremendously better than the USA if you're young (18 to 30 years old). I had the shittiest life in the USA, was born in Canada but parents moved to USA and when I was seven years old; parents were lower-middle class for context. I've only managed to move back to Canada a few years ago and I wish I never would go to the USA ever again if I could live life over. Canada has free healthcare and I'm a transgende…

I...I can't believe people are downvoting stuff like this. We're virtually in the same position - I am also transgender, and would have to pay hundreds of dollars for HRT if I was down there, alone. There are unfortunately a lot more biased, seemingly pious individuals here, who are just downvoting these kinds of comments without even providing proper criticism. That's what 'patriotism' gives you. Amurrrica! I've eve…

I can only speculate why people are downvoting, but I suspect it's because sysbin's comment seems to suggest a particular state of mind:

- Ignorance of the First Amendment - Extreme sense of entitlement and expectation that others should do as he/she expects regardless of how the other person feels about it

Phrasing it as "I was surprised to find that doctors in the US can refuse treatment to transgenders based on their religious beliefs" would probably have led to far fewer downvotes.

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#137

Post by sysbin »

WkndTriathlete wrote: post #135
lostgame wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I...I can't believe people are downvoting stuff like this. We're virtually in the same position - I am also transgender, and would have to pay hundreds of dollars for HRT if I was down there, alone. There are unfortunately a lot more biased, seemingly pious individuals here, who are just downvoting these kinds of comments without even providing proper criticism. That's what 'patriotism' gives you. Amurrrica! I've eve…

I can only speculate why people are downvoting, but I suspect it's because sysbin's comment seems to suggest a particular state of mind: - Ignorance of the First Amendment - Extreme sense of entitlement and expectation that others should do as he/she expects regardless of how the other person feels about it Phrasing it as "I was surprised to find that doctors in the US can refuse treatment to transgenders based on th…

Hypocrisy is what you're preaching right here. People downvoting me for expressing (what "they" consider a first amendment right) by voicing my opinion that Canada has it better for not restricting healthcare based on religious ideology. That's hypocrisy against my USA and Canadian right.

People are scum when they use religion as an excuse to allow someone's health to be worse than if religion didn't exist to result in the maltreatment compared to a person with an illness they find tolerable by their beliefs for following treatment protocol accepted in the medical community.

I can voice that opinion in Canada or in the USA. Canada has it better for trans people. I'm sure "scum" in USA will not care about that because they're a bunch of narcissists.

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#139

Post by true_tuna »

Also every American who dies of cancer or other major medical condition will have his or her lifetime savings wiped out by medical bills. So measure average net income minus expenses at time of death and I’d be surprised if we beat Bangladesh. They probably have a higher gross national happiness in life as well.

Re: Most Canadians Are Now Better Off Than Most Americans

#140

Post by perl4ever »

The headline is a very ambiguous statement. It seems to be consistent with the proposition that the top 51% of Canadians are better off than the bottom 51% of Americans, which would be an exceedingly small difference.

On the other hand, if the top 80% of Canadians were better off than the bottom 80% of Americans, that's a huge difference, but kind of implausible.

Post reply on HN