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Re: Canada

#61

Post by andsoitis »

duckruu wrote: post #31

Growing up they were poor, but their family got 500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year. People are so ignorant, it hurts.

> 500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year. People are so ignorant, it hurts.

Wildly inaccurate statistic.

Bottom 10% live on less than $800 per year. [1]

Bottom 30% around $2000 - $3000 per year. [2]

Global median income is about $3000 per person per year. [2]

[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-prosperity-...

[2] https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-1/

Re: Canada

#62

Post by beached_whale »

amrocha wrote: post #38
beached_whale wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are some examples of companies that scaled really well in Canada but move to the US subsequently for better access to their market. Shopify is the first example that comes to mine.

Shopify hasn’t moved to the US any more than Toyota has.

Oh wow, thanks. I thought they moved to the US.

Re: Canada

#63

Post by lovich »

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…

But then _wrong_ people would get a benefit and they’d rather die than have that happen.

Re: Canada

#64

Post by garbawarb »

trimethylpurine wrote: post #54
garbawarb wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

To me it's want versus need. A lot of people feel like they're forced into things like that and don't feel wealthy despite being wealthy by any objective measure.

Re: Canada

#65

Post by jfim »

garbawarb wrote: post #17

I like to think about what Canada would be like if it could take the best qualities from the US and leave the rest. What if Canada's capital markets were so robust that it was just as good a place as the US to start and scale a company? What if it could match the US in economic productivity? PM Carney seems to have made it a goal to get Canada there but time will tell whether that happens. Some other countries like S…

The biggest problem with Canadian capital markets is that investors aren't really that comfortable with taking risk, because the alternative for them is to park their money in real estate, which has done quite well with little risk in Canada.

If Carney really wants to make this happen, he'd have to thread the needle on deflating the property bubble in order to make venture capital and productivity investments more attractive compared to real estate, all while managing the rest of the highly US dependent economy for the upcoming years.

Switzerland has fewer sociocultural problems than the US, but it's also a smaller relatively homogenous society with far less immigration, and a highly educated and politically involved population.

Re: Canada

#66

Post by garbawarb »

Archelaos wrote: post #51

European here. What do Canadians think about joining the EU?

It's just silly because we're not a European country. I think Canada would benefit a lot from a CANZUK-type agreement though. The lack of a large single market makes Canada less competitve compared to the US/EU/China in many ways like scaling a business.

Re: Canada

#67

Post by garbawarb »

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…

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

Re: Canada

#68

Post by jfim »

lateforwork wrote: post #47

Most importantly—and this is not mentioned in the blog—Canadians take comfort in the fact that someone like Trump will never come to power in Canada. The Prime Minister is not chosen by direct popular vote. Rather, the leader of the party that wins control of the House becomes Prime Minister. As to who becomes a party leader: Party leaders are picked internally by party members via leadership races, not by the genera…

I'm a bit disconnected from Canadian politics these days, but wasn't Pierre Poilièvre polling quite well compared to the liberals until the US election?

And while it's true that there are no confidence votes, Harper has prorogued the parliament before in order to prevent such a vote.

Canadian politics is healthier in general than in the US but it's not a panacea.

Re: Canada

#69

Post by card_zero »

andsoitis wrote: post #61
duckruu wrote: post #31

Growing up they were poor, but their family got 500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year. People are so ignorant, it hurts.

> 500 dollars a month, which is more than most families on this planet earn a year. People are so ignorant, it hurts. Wildly inaccurate statistic. Bottom 10% live on less than $800 per year. [1] Bottom 30% around $2000 - $3000 per year. [2] Global median income is about $3000 per person per year. [2] [1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/poverty-prosperity-... [2] https://wir2022.wid.world/chapter-1/

So that means a family with two median earners makes 500 dollars a month?

I don't get it, you seem to be confirming the claim.

Re: Canada

#70

Post by Jill_the_Pill »

userbinator wrote: post #23

I've heard Canada described as a "more moderate, and somewhat colder US".

Canada has its problems, and many of them tend to resemble the US's problems. But they are like 10-20 years behind on the same path. So, if you think things were maybe a bit less bad back then: Canada.

Also Canada has far better yogurt.

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