European here. What do Canadians think about joining the EU?
Canada
51–60 of 131 posts
Re: Canada
#52I 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…
The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…
You’re wrong, but this essay is about Canada so I’ll focus on that.
The median canadian earns more than the median USian and we do it without letting kids go hungry in schools or murder squads.
Re: Canada
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…
The problem is that many Americans are so bogged down in expenses that they don't feel wealthy despite their median wealth. For example, it's basically assumed that you must have a car and pay its high recurring expenses, including ancilliary expenses like having a home big enough to have a parking space.
It's not like Americans are all buying X so they can't afford to buy Y - there isn't really a major category of consumption where the US median is below the OECD median. If the US had a higher savings rate, then people could smooth out consumption more (build up savings some years, draw them down in bad years or in retirement), and maybe enjoy more psychological security. But it doesn't really make sense to say that Americans are unusually "bogged down in expenses" and yet have more goods and services in every significant category.
Re: Canada
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…
The problem is that many Americans are so bogged down in expenses that they don't feel wealthy despite their median wealth. For example, it's basically assumed that you must have a car and pay its high recurring expenses, including ancilliary expenses like having a home big enough to have a parking space.
I read through your example but couldn't find the problem. This all sounds good to me.
Re: Canada
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…
You’re wrong, but this essay is about Canada so I’ll focus on that. The median canadian earns more than the median USian and we do it without letting kids go hungry in schools or murder squads.
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.
Re: Canada
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The median American is, materially, much richer than the median person pretty much anywhere else. The US is a bad place, by rich-country standards, to be in the bottom 10%. But in terms of consumer wealth - how large your house is, how many cars your family has and how nice they are, if you have a dishwasher and home A/C, how often you eat at restaurants or travel long distances, can you afford a home repair or the l…
You’re wrong, but this essay is about Canada so I’ll focus on that. The median canadian earns more than the median USian and we do it without letting kids go hungry in schools or murder squads.
[deleted]
Re: Canada
#57The Canada the author refers to is gone.
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 on.
Re: Canada
#58The Canada the author refers to is gone.
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…
Some of the HN community have lived in multiple places - look where they end up not where they go at the start of their career. Such people don't have to sweat families, health, ...
Re: Canada
#59> There are many things wrong with Canada. It has a go for bronze mentality, the smartest of us keep going to the US because there is not enough opportunity here, much of its public infrastructure is crumbling and the housing prices are frightful. The nation is very obviously sick. Is anyone currently moving from Canada to the US? If so, are they the "smartest", or do they simply have different priorities than a lot…
If you're young, healthy, and unattached there's almost no reason not to move to the US.
Re: Canada
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite the statement there bud. Care to back it up?
Every province except Alberta is in dire financial states(Venezuela events will finish them off) . We have no gold reserves. In the next 5 years there will be a mortgage cliff for those who bought at the peak. Major Universities are about to be bankrupt. Canada is going to get very poor soon. These social goods will be gone, and we will be worse for it.
They still have power, they still have food, they still have minerals and other stuff dug out of the ground. They still have water. Unless you think the world will cease being a consumer economy, they'll do ok. And Toronto and Vancouver can take all of the refugees from Silicon Valley when it implodes financially.