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Re: Canada

#111

Post by rich_sasha »

I think about optimising between investment and consumption a lot recently. It's like GDP per capita vs. quality of life.

Canada, and much of Europe, optimise for QoL. But in Europe at least, this impinges on people's mental ability to invest in growth, to have a risk taker mentality and "ownership of your own life" kind of thing.

US is the opposite. Screw QoL, screw inequality, go for growth and the rest will come. The poor will get more crumbs if the country grows more quickly, and over time will be better off than those in generous but stagnant European countries. Maybe.

Is Canada somehow finding a happy path? I'm getting mixed opinions. But would be great to know what Europe could learn from our friendly North American cousins.

From my side I can say, I visited Canada twice in my life, a very long time ago, and absolutely loved it. So I'm always rooting for the Maple Leaf people vs Team Orange (headed by Agent Orange..?).

Re: Canada

#112

Post by amrocha »

garbawarb wrote: post #67
amrocha wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Canadian, have lived in 4 different continents, and there’s plenty of countries that are just as good or better than Canada out there. Case in point, I live in Japan. Some things are worse than Canada, but the things that are better line up with my priorities in life. Don’t fall for the americanism of being blind to the rest of the world and thinking we’re the best. There’s plenty of areas for Canada to improve o…

If I may ask, how did you end up in Japan?

I liked it well enough when I was travelling that I decided to try and live here, so I got a job and a work visa. That was almost 4 years ago now.

Re: Canada

#113

Post by tavavex »

amrocha wrote: post #57
glouwbug wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a time of post WWII boom and unrivalled economic prosperity. For the vast majority of human existence wealth like that was never offered to regular commoners. Canada today might be expensive to rent in and buy in, but the quality of life in terms of safety, culture, political stability, nature, and medicine (minus the temporary shortage in health professionals) is still unmatched globally. Canadians who compla…

I’m Canadian, have lived in 4 different continents, and there’s plenty of countries that are just as good or better than Canada out there. Case in point, I live in Japan. Some things are worse than Canada, but the things that are better line up with my priorities in life. Don’t fall for the americanism of being blind to the rest of the world and thinking we’re the best. There’s plenty of areas for Canada to improve o…

> Don’t fall for the americanism of being blind to the rest of the world and thinking we’re the best.

That's not what the person was saying, though. They never implied that Canada is the best, they only said that Canada is a good place to live in, and that people who try to say otherwise (like the parent of this thread) lack perspective. Any Canadian that lived in other first-world countries (except maybe the US) will probably say that in many ways, the other countries can be better than us. We've got plenty of issues, but Canada's still up there. There's some things that are good here, some that need a lot of work - but on average, it's still really good by world standards. There's nothing wrong with saying that we need to improve in many critical areas, but there is in posting ragebait talking about 'true Canada' being long gone, Canada being a failed state and so on, like what you see above and across many parts of the internet.

Re: Canada

#114

Post by bulbar »

usui wrote: post #85
retired wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Dutch* it's such a strange concept that you don't have to pay to bring books to your home. I hope that we will see that over here as well in my lifetime. It would do wonders to increase literacy in the population.

Is this a strange concept due to you being European or because of your particular European country? I thought public libraries where you can borrow books is a common thing in Europe, but I could be wrong since I just assumed that.

It's super common in Europe, at least in Germany. But I have never heard that it's different outside of Germany.

Re: Canada

#115

Post by amrocha »

tavavex wrote: post #113
amrocha wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m Canadian, have lived in 4 different continents, and there’s plenty of countries that are just as good or better than Canada out there. Case in point, I live in Japan. Some things are worse than Canada, but the things that are better line up with my priorities in life. Don’t fall for the americanism of being blind to the rest of the world and thinking we’re the best. There’s plenty of areas for Canada to improve o…

> Don’t fall for the americanism of being blind to the rest of the world and thinking we’re the best. That's not what the person was saying, though. They never implied that Canada is the best, they only said that Canada is a good place to live in, and that people who try to say otherwise (like the parent of this thread) lack perspective. Any Canadian that lived in other first-world countries (except maybe the US) wil…

I think that’s up to interpretation. They said Canada is “unmatched globally”, which I interpreted as a belief that Canada is the best country in the world.

Agreed on the second half though.

Re: Canada

#116

Post by dh2022 »

amrocha wrote: post #110
apsec112 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Median American pay for full-time workers was ~$62,000 USD in Q4 2024 (BLS), which is around $85,000 CAD. The median Canadian salary is very definitely not $85,000 CAD.

Now adjust for PPP and subtract healthcare costs. Not to mention all the other benefits Canada provides.

If you are going to play this game you also need to adjust for taxes. I lived a few years in Montreal, then a few years in Toronto and after that I moved to US. During this years my perception of income taxes went from “they are pretty high” in Montreal to “Wow, they are much lower” in Toronto to “how are public services funded? Taxes are almost 0” in the states..

Re: Canada

#117

Post by dh2022 »

jdswain wrote: post #28
light_hue_1 wrote: post #10

I grew up in Canada and live in the US now with kids. The US is not one country. It's two that are radically different. There's wealthy America. The top 5% to 10% that have healthcare, have their own safety nets, don't need to worry about money, their kids go to select schools that they can buy into (mostly by buying into the right neighborhoods), an amazing pension plan, etc. My kids go to a fancy library with readi…

There's a selfish case for the wealthy to care about this: rising tides lift all boats, including theirs. When the bottom 80% are struggling with housing insecurity and desperation, the consequences don't stay contained to poor neighbourhoods. San Francisco seems like a good example—the visible decline in public spaces, safety concerns, and urban decay affect everyone who lives there, regardless of income. The wealth…

In the US rich people have been separating themselves from the rest for a while now (gated communities is just the first stage of separation. Rich people would rather take a short flight than be stuck in traffic among the hoi polloi. Rich people are constantly surrounded by bodyguards)

So rich people do not care about the decaying infrastructure around them.

I think the US will end up like Brazil: rich people go from sky scrapers to sky scraper via helicopters, while the favelas surround the skyscrapers. The poor are kept in check in the favelas with the help of a brutal police force. BTW: Brazil is a democracy.

Re: Canada

#118

Post by amrocha »

dh2022 wrote: post #116
amrocha wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now adjust for PPP and subtract healthcare costs. Not to mention all the other benefits Canada provides.

If you are going to play this game you also need to adjust for taxes. I lived a few years in Montreal, then a few years in Toronto and after that I moved to US. During this years my perception of income taxes went from “they are pretty high” in Montreal to “Wow, they are much lower” in Toronto to “how are public services funded? Taxes are almost 0” in the states..

I’m not playing a game, I’m comparing facts. The median person working in the US is poorer than the median person working in Canada. Fact.

Average tax rates for people with the median income are basically the same in Canada or the US.

Re: Canada

#119

Post by retired »

bulbar wrote: post #114
usui wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a strange concept due to you being European or because of your particular European country? I thought public libraries where you can borrow books is a common thing in Europe, but I could be wrong since I just assumed that.

It's super common in Europe, at least in Germany. But I have never heard that it's different outside of Germany.

Correct, Germany also has the subscription model for taking books home.

Re: Canada

#120

Post by retired »

footy wrote: post #102
retired wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Dutch* it's such a strange concept that you don't have to pay to bring books to your home. I hope that we will see that over here as well in my lifetime. It would do wonders to increase literacy in the population.

I spent a lot of time in Latin America growing up, including in parts that didn't have public libraries. Your comment is shocking to me, I guess I just assumed most developed countries has libraries that function in similar ways. Wikipedia says there are about 600 libraries in the Netherlands, do you not get to borrow books for free? They're integral to the fabric of society in my view.

I looked it up and it will cost you €66 per year for unlimited book lending, e-books, audio books and magazines.

For low-income families and people up to 25 years old this drops to €48 per year.

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