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The Middle Class In Canada Is Now Doing Better Than The Middle Class In America
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
For most of Canada's existence, it has been regarded as the weak neighbor to the north by most Americans. Well, that has changed dramatically over the past decade or so. Back in the year 2000, middle class Canadians were earning much less than middle class Americans, but since then there has been a dramatic shift. At this point, middle class Canadians are actually earning more than middle class Americans are. The Canadian economy has been booming thanks to a rapidly growing oil industry, and meanwhile the U.S. middle class has been steadily shrinking. If current trends continue, a whole bunch of other countries are going to start passing us too. The era of the "great U.S. middle class" is rapidly coming to a bitter end.
In recent years, I have been up to Canada frequently, and I am always amazed at how much nicer things are up there. The stores and streets are cleaner, the people are more polite and it seems like almost everyone that wants to work has a job.
But despite knowing all this, I was still surprised when the New York Times reported this week that middle class incomes in Canada have now surpassed middle class incomes in the United States...
After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada — substantially behind in 2000 — now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.
And things are particularly dire for those in the U.S. on the low end of the scale...
The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes significantly less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true.
Even while our politicians and the media continue to proclaim that everything is "just fine", the U.S. middle class continues to slide toward oblivion.
The biggest reason for this is the lack of middle class jobs. Millions of good jobs have been shipped overseas, and millions of other good jobs have been replaced by technology.
The value of our labor is declining with each passing day, and this has forced millions upon millions of very qualified Americans to take whatever they can get. As NBC News recently noted, this is a big reason why the temp industry has been booming...
For Americans who can't find jobs, the booming demand for temp workers has been a path out of unemployment, but now many fear it's a dead-end route.
With full-time work hard to find, these workers have built temping into a de facto career, minus vacation, sick days or insurance. The assignments might be temporary — a few months here, a year there — but labor economists warn that companies' growing hunger for a workforce they can switch on and off could do permanent damage to these workers' career trajectories and retirement plans.
"It seems to be the new norm in the working world," said Kelly Sibla, 54. The computer systems engineer has been looking for a full-time job for four years now, but the Amherst, Ohio, resident said she has to take whatever she can find.
It has been estimated that one out of every ten jobs is now filled by a temp agency. I have worked for temp agencies myself in the past. Big companies like the idea of having "disposable workers", and this is a trend that is likely to only grow in the years ahead.
But temp jobs and part-time jobs don't pay as well as normal jobs. And those kinds of jobs generally cannot support middle class families.
At this point, nine out of the top ten occupations in the United States pay an average wage of less than $35,000 a year.
That is absolutely stunning.
These days most families are barely scraping by, and they don't have much extra money to go shopping with.
This is a big reason for the "retail apocalypse" that we are now witnessing. This week we learned that retail stores in the United States are closing at the fastest pace that we have seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. But you won't hear much about that on the mainstream news.
You can find lots of "space available" signs and empty buildings in formerly middle class neighborhoods all over the country. For example, one of my readers recently shot the following YouTube video in Scottsdale, Arizona. As you can see, empty commercial buildings are all over the place...
As the middle class shrinks, more families are being forced to take in family members that can't find decent work. I have written previously about the huge rise in the number of young adults that are moving back in with their parents. But this is not just happening to young people. As the Los Angeles Times recently detailed, the number of Americans 50 and older that are moving in with their parents has absolutely soared in recent years...
For seven years through 2012, the number of Californians aged 50 to 64 who live in their parents' homes swelled 67.6% to about 194,000, according to the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.
The jump is almost exclusively the result of financial hardship caused by the recession rather than for other reasons, such as the need to care for aging parents, said Steven P. Wallace, a UCLA professor of public health who crunched the data.
"The numbers are pretty amazing," Wallace said. "It's an age group that you normally think of as pretty financially stable. They're mid-career. They may be thinking ahead toward retirement. They've got a nest egg going. And then all of a sudden you see this huge push back into their parents' homes."
The U.S. economy is slowly but steadily falling apart, and more people fall out of the middle class every single day.
A recent Gallup survey found that 14 percent of all Americans would experience "significant financial hardship" within one week of a job loss.
An additional 29 percent of all Americans would experience "significant financial hardship" within one month of a job loss.
That means that 43 percent of the entire country is living right on the edge.
It is no wonder why only about 30 percent of all Americans believe that we are moving in the right direction as a nation.
Most people know deep down that something is seriously wrong. But most people can't explain exactly what that is or how to fix it.
Meanwhile, the politicians and the media keep telling us that if we just keep doing the same old things that everything will work out okay somehow. The blind are leading the blind, and we are rapidly marching toward disaster.
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I think we're getting hosed, eh?
This is all beginning to make as much sense as Barney and Betty Hill's Abduction Experience.
If you like your abduction experience you can keep your abduction experience
Those who do not remember their Abduction Experiences are Doomed to Repeat their Abduction Experiences.
Anal Probing 101
Maybe this author wants to ignore the enormous real estate bubble in Canada. The one that will trash its economy just as quickly as the US.
It's because people in Canada have adopted Bitcoin quicker than people in the United States.
LMAO Fonestar, that is almost as good as RobotTrader!
I came for the Bob and Doug McKenzie links dammit!
Step it up ZH'ers!
Regards,
cooter
Personally - I come for the Canuck bashing. I'll keep reading.... hopefully I won't be dissapointed.
Kaloookuku kaloooookuuukuuuuu!
This situation will have to be rectified
Small price to pay for the privilege of being raped by Obozocare and Jamie's bonus.
It's so cold in winter that all the bums without jobs freeze to death or move to Florida.
They do better because they don't have to pay for 6000 some odd military installations and deal with all the illegal immigrants and their strain on the system.
That was inevitable with Harper/Obama as leaders of respective countries. Harper is focussed on reducing debt and limiting government intervention and it's paying off.
2
Now, Canada and the U.S. share an important imigration problem -- poor on their southern border wanting to get jobs and good medical care by going north.
And frostbite too.
Its fantastic!
Back to watching Beverly Hillbillies reruns
The one about still making is very informative.
Gets cold in a lot of places, where one needs some anti-freeze ;-)
Fonestar stop being stupid. Bitcoin will not save the day no matter what country you abide in. And as a Canadian, please take offense to this. You're a fucking idiot!!
Our debt to personal income is only matched by South Korea. Nothing to proud of. Our real estate collapse will be epic, and bitcoin will not save anybody's ass. But good luck to ya, you're gonna need it.
BTC is still pretty fringe. I know of one ATM at a metrohippie coffee shop in Vancouver: World's first bitcoin ATM opens in Vancouver (29-Oct-2013). To my mind, any operation that requires biometrics is feeding the beast.
On the matter of Canadian middle class, Canadians are just as much in debt as Americans. The real estate market is topped, with a big disconnect between sellers and buyers. Family real estate agents are frustrated by "unrealistic expectations" on the part of sellers who think it's still 2006. Retail spending is in the tank. Malls are practically deserted, except for the food courts. High end shops are deserted. Furniture stores are closing. Department stores might as well close, for all the traffic they aren't seeing. Touristy areas are in a panic, as visitor spending has dried up. Locals desperate to save money are discarding "Buy Local" rhetoric and flocking to Wal-Mart.
You see symptoms of hardship in the way people dress. People look like shit! Quality is gone. New clothing looks like dumpster trash. All stores seem to be targeting the lowest common denominator: young people with maxed-out credit cards and no standards. Women have given up styling their hair, letting it hang in shreds. Trends in America always take a couple extra years to reach Canada, but decline is obvious for those with eyes to see. It's fascinating.
I watch those property brothers on HGTV and they operate out of Toronto area with their shows and I am blown away how expensive permafrost can be. They are in for a ruuuude awakening real soon.
Scene: fonestar if shtf, with his laptop and a cheap .32 in his pocket.
Fonestar gets to the front of the line
Guy behind the counter: "Yeah, what you got for trade?"
Fonestar: "I have this super secret squrril safe with Bitcoin in it!"
Guy behind the counter, with all the good (needed) stuff, plus goons: "Bitcoin? How am I supposed to redeem that shit? Got any hook up with your ISP lately?"
Fonestar with a look of anguish......I'm not a writer, I'll leave the rest to you.
It'll be interesting to see whose bubble bursts first.
Australia... Or Canada...
The race is on. My money is on Australia, I bet 5 Zim dollars.
money on aust = a good bet
http://cecaust.com.au/pubs/pdfs/Mortgage-Bubble-Memo-Web.pdf
a better bet is a rolling pin on a few national bubbles around the world that crush ponzi schemes using a domino effect required by TPTB to extract maximum debt obligations and destruction of the middle class
these freaks have had live practice scenarios; in the mean time enjoy the bail-in legisation, wealth tax and other shit they use the IMF to float prior to the legislators covertly adopting
The Canadian RE bubble should burst soon since Canada's usually around a decade behind the US.
"The '80s didn't come to Canada til like '93." —Robin Scherbatsky
Yes and no.
I always enjoy Canada, but like Belgium, it's a stretch to call it a country. Half the population lives within 50 miles of the US Border. The French speakers are in open rebellion, whenever they can afford it. The Prairie provinces think they are Midwesterners, and the West does its own damn thing, good on them. Only in Ontario, do you find people thinking of themselves as Canadians.
Hosed? You got that right.
Nailed it!
What are you talking about Willis? I've traveled everywhere in Canada, and people are nowhere near what you describe. I'm also French Canadian, and there is no rebelion happening here. Infact, people here just voted a majority provincial Liberal government, which are not separatists.
You may want to have a better look next time you come to visit. It also helps to slow your car down while visiting too, that way you actually get to meet some of the people here.
Sheesh!
Ah, but the Maritimes are poor as church mice. Coal and fishing economies are in the toilet.
When gold goes up Quebec will feel its oats again, and you'll all be as happy as the Irish;)
see below "and then in a fit of jealous rage...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm-idYlivfs
only this time we'll take Toronto Mr. President. We look forward to resistance."
Canada is run by socialists also, but almost anyone can do better than the Obozo socialists!
I'm never dissapointed by a Canadian thread.
BTW - we're pot smoking gun toting socialists. Get it right.
Canada consumes half as much oil as it produces.
America produces half as much oil as it consumes.
I wonder if this has any effect ...
Nice catch. Canada's borders are not secure.
Merger of the Century (Diane Francis, 2013)
Interview at McLaughlin,com (c/o YouTube, 18-Apr-2014)
As an American, a merger would only be acceptable if the Queen becomes head of state of the combined entity and Obama is sent packing.
Reconsider that. You don't ever want monarchy again. Especially not THIS bunch.
Diane Francis: now there's a name I haven't heard for a while.
Used to enjoy her writing, particularly Underground Nation. I haven't read this latest yet, but the premise sounds completely mad. What Canadian today would want to become part of the US, with its out-of-control agencies (NSA, IRS, FBI, ...), out-of-control debt, dysfunctional federal gov't, worldwide taxation of non-residents, FATCA, and on and on?
A merger like this would be a reason to give up one's passport, it really would.
Being a Canadian I can say first hand that our country is nothing without the United States.
All the down votes are the Canadians out there that are in complete denial.
We depend on the US for defense thus our sovereignty.
We believe the governments job is to look after us.
We are arrogant in our thinking that we are the best country in the world
Our economy is reliant on the US.
We do everything we can not to be categorized as Americans.
Most Canadians think the 2nd amendment is for barbarians.
The leader of Liberal party of Canada says we should be more like China and also says we could use a dictatorship.
I am neither right or left but our politics and our morale high ground is delusional.
Canada has some of the safest cities left in the world. White people have retained their European cultures to a fascinating degree, and the chicks are downright fun. Traveling in Canada is worth doing, because it's not all the same damn strip malls and burger joints.
Now about your ten foot merge lanes at 85 MPH;)
"Now about you ten foot merge lanes at 85 MPH;)"
And, well, while I might have the attention of a Canadian or two: Could you PLEASE learn to drive a steady speed on our freeways and hiways? Fuck, I come up behind you when you're going under the speed limit (as I have cruise on) and just when I'm passing you you THEN speed up! WTF? It's not a competition. I just want to go a steady speed, not like I'm humping the fucking accelerator! This goes for ALL Canadians. I fucking weirds me out on how predictable and consistent you all are in this regard.
This would be where the Floridian interjects and requests that Canadians stop haggling over a nickel while ten people stand behind them in line, have some courtesy...just lay it down...don't buy it.
And for God's sake, stop making left turns from the right lane ;-)
Please... we'll stop haggling over a nickel when you stop sending carloads of tourists with skis in July hoping to get a little powder and please stop with the black socks and shorts or socks with sandals :)
I want mein Iced Tea, DAMMIT.
You got tea. Gawd knows you got ice. If you combined the ice with the tea, watcha think might happen? Apparantly the end of the world, cause I can't get an iced tea for love nor money in Canada.
End of Rant, Happy to mix my own;)
ROTFL!!!
Deal.
The only time I was in Canada was when I went to a wedding in Detroit (well, outside Detroit)...went over to Windsor. Ate dinner, had a few drinks, seemed pretty normal.
But it was the fall, anything below 70F is cold to a cracker, you won't find me on your ski slopes, with or without flip flops on ;-)
One thing about being Canadian: get in an accident or have a medical emergency and you don't have to worry about being ruined financially by hospital bills.
Yep they will just conveniently take their time to get to you in the hopes you will be dead and not a strain on the system.
Those aren't merge lanes. You are supposed to stop dead and wait for a break in the 85 mph traffic. Then you light the after-burners on your V-12 Ferrari and merge.
"The chicks are downright fun"
Since we're srunning stereotypes we may as well mention how hot our women are too. Married to a hot canuck chick for close to 20 years. She's not as much fun as when we were 21 but the cold weather still makes her sleep real close at night. I guess the Swedes and Nowegians could say the same.... just when you think you're special....
Canadian born women are looney kunts. I'll take an immigrant from any end of the world every time. And we are well diversified.
All women are loony, it just finding the level of lunacy that's right for you. There's your match.
Edit: Well, that and something you want to wake up to.
You should have stopped before adding the edit. After 16 years of marriage, I don't care if I'm waking up next to Gisele Bundchen (and/or her sister). Mostly what I want is for all of them to shut the fuck up and not talk to me about ANYTHING. There is NOTHING that any woman talks about that isn't complete and utter insanity to a man.
Why do men pay prostitutes ? To Fuck ? No; so they'll leave afterwards.
when TSHTF you'll obviously have a loyal following (sarc).
Many more women have stood for family and land when TSHTF than our current metro-sexual trendy dudes...who I would NOT trust to walk their way out of a paper bag
being a man means toughening up on life vs toughening against women folk -yeh yeh I know about the extreme feminisation shit but thats just more BS that shouldn't sink your own values or man hood- jees if you can't stand up to that crap how are you going to go with the real crap?
With all the heavy clothing.... you sure that's a chick?
I pre-apologize. That comment was totally uncalled for.
But at least it's a pretty country for the most part right?
When your vision isn't blurred from chattering teeth... Arctic continental air masses, brr...
What down votes?
Newfie Newfie Newfie
You sir, are a fucking moron.
Our economy is reliant on the highest bidder, like anyone else.
MMMM OK!
What happens in Canada when the US economy goes in the crapper?
Listen to this Newfie delusionary as he sits comfortably in his bullethole-free dwelling [overpriced though], writing in perfectly correct English grammar, and with full access to any medical care he might need, but complaining that he wants to be more like the United States. Nobody's keeping you here buddy, see ya! What's that? You weren't really planning on leaving? Ahh, I see.
actually, lot of offshore oil and gas in newfoundland so i think they are doing better than many imagine. i would take St Johns over Chicago any day of the week.
Canada has been taken over by socialists though.
Local governments are being hijacked by "sustainability" control freaks. The latest outcry is for a ban against "fossil fuel" powered leaf blowers, "To Save The Planet." I'm sick of being asked to turn off all my lights for Earth Day. It's like everybody has been turned into Stepford Wives for Agenda 21.
following the money and revolving door resumes in various organisations my home town, it all led to global links with 'sustainability' corporations, ICLEI and NGO's (corporations and foundations in disguise); must say the men are big on this shit for their careers and public profiles but a bit quicker on trying to exempt their properties from the sustainable re-zoning.
we've caught out a few, made it known, and there is a quiet backlash making the noisy folk shut the fuck up
what can one do when your federal and state governments are funding and supporting these agenda based acts? or when your kids are taught at the local school that 'you' are the problem on the planet?
push back time... anyone... hello?.. anyone there?
Learn to read!
Not once did I say I wanted to be more like the states.
I found a mouse in my beer can....aye. I think you owe mw some free beer!
In Canada we usually just shake the mouse to get every drop of precious beer back into the glass, and just toss the mouse. It was in alcohol, so it's all good...
Like a worm in a tequila bottle but fuzzier....
Lived in Canada last couple of years. They are selling all their natural resources as fast as they can, cheap. Midwest wants the pipeline to New Orleans so bad they cant stand it. Housing is ridiculous and cant continue. Their Head Bankster lured to England to teach them to print. And they firmly believe it cant happen to them cause their politicians and laws are better than the US's. (they want to get rid of the senate to make their .gov more democratic)
Cant continue... I thought that in 2007.
Masses of people can become delusional.
Yes. We are like whores here. Sold our sovreignty to the devil.... can't remember wether he speaks with a southern drawl or a Chinese accent. Oops.... that's the wine talking.
For seven years through 2012, the number of Californians aged 50 to 64 who live in their parents' homes swelled 67.6%
had to read that a couple of times, if the kids in basements are 50 to 64 how fucking old are the parents??
once we get rid of the petroloonie we will see where they are at.
We will always be your lapdog. RBC is a Fed primary dealer. Scotia is a LBMA market member. All the rest are authorized participants(GLD). Our politicians have no balls. They never fucking will. They devalued the CAD this year. Just look at the CAD in gold. Its so obvious.
Unless Quebec separates (hopefully) and the whole country is broken up, nothing will change.
I assumed our middle class was always better off... Since at least 2005.
I've always felt being Canadian was like being a cross between a European and an American. All the arrogance of both without the military might or the culture to back it up.
Mostly we are just ignored but excited when someone notices us.
Personally I prefer being ignored. As I've gotten older what i want more than anything is to just be left alone. A cottage at the lake, my lovely bride and a house full of grand kiddies (one day) to sugar up and send home. Truly - I think it is better when the rest of the world doesn't notice you... esspecially this world.
Fine if you don't factor in debt loads...
Let's talk after the housing bubble up there finally pops. Shouldn't be able to miss it as it'll be heard around the world.
So Jonny Paulson made a fortune shorting the US housing bubble.
Imagine you had the chance again.... Well, you do. At the punchline is, this bubble shares a border with you.
Why won't anyone short it ? Calgary hit all time highs last week.
I have morals... yeah, never destined to be rich (but nonetheless I'm doing pretty well, thank you). And, I've got friends and family up there (most all through association with my wife). My farm provides me with all the risks and thrills I really need...
Did you self vote your comment up ? Don't lie... If not then self vote it now so a 2 will appear.
This is going to get into voter fraud & racism isn't it? ;-)
Bubble? I made about 150 last year; gunning for 180 this year...as a sheet metal installer!! I don't know who's buying 'em (fresh of the boat new immigrants) but boy, they sure are slapping homes up pretty quick up here in ol C to the A.
What bubble? lol
Lots of immigrants are able to pack into houses, thereby creating enough revenue from multiple lower-paying jobs to feed the real estate machine up there. I have first-hand experience. I'd always figured that a downturn by China would trigger the bubble burst up there: a folld of rentals from the Chinese students going back home because mom and dad aren't so rich anymore will start the reversal (well, on the West coast, which is a big part of Canada).
I live in Canada too.You had best sock that "big cash" (I giggle while saying this)away cause nobody's buying our stuff. Canada is building but not selling everywhere to maintain the delusion of prosperity.
Chinese demand Iis drying up faster than your girlfriend who just caught you cheating.
Commercial projects are way overbuilt in Vancouver and Toronto.
Personal and govt debt is way out of control.
Just a balloon looking for a pin
Come to Alberta.
Seriously.
High school dropouts are taking home $100K a year working as leasehands on the rigs.
That's the WORST you can do.
Alberta.
People work for 40 years in Alberta, paying minimal taxes, then retire to another province (namely, BC) and then they suddenly need Health Care. Great system they got for themselves.
we have slow years. Schlumberger just laid off 8500 worldwide. Alberta effected
Work in the oil patch can be stressful, but rewarding if you are prepared to work very hard and stick to it. The geology program at U of C is always full, with many students headhunted prior to graduation. As prices for raw materials continue to rise, expect the resource sector to resume its boom. I would not be discouraged at all by near term consolidation. You must be prpeared to move out of your comfort zone though, leaving home, working long shifts with weird hours, in unfamiliar surroundings, under varying degrees of stress. I suspect it's like a career in the military: some people have the right disposition, others don't.
It's not a picnic.
The average emotional maturity of those in the patch (service side) is somewhere between puberty and 9th grade gym class. Add money to the equation and you have a field that is, in a word, deplorable. But if you can get past the cussing, swearing, physical assaults, and whatnot ...
Good money can be made.
I will add, however, that in the past 5 years the industry has changed remarkably. Most camps are alcohol free, have Starbucks, and good weight room facilities. It IS institutionalized living, mind you, and the barb wire fence around the compound (to keep the bears out, apparently) is a constant reminded of what you've sold your life for.
The problem most guys make when they enter the field is they immediately get caught up in the lifestyle of expensive toys (chipped out f-350, hookers, drugs) and end up living paycheck to paycheck. I've met more than one driller that didn't have a nickel saved after a decade in the patch. And these are guys that pull in $1K+/day.
So, yeah ... agreed. There are tradeoffs to the 'easy' money.
And they have better weed too.
This trend will continue as America is bled dry by vultures. With no one left to stop them, the vultures will pick every last piece of living flesh from the average American.
Many people will blame capitalism for this. However, capitalism is not to blame, as we do not have a capitalist economy. We have a fascist economy, in which major private corporations collude with the central government for profit. In accordance with Mussolini's vision, the US central government maintains close ties with the largest corporations in each economic sector in order to maintain control.
Whenever you hear any government mouthpiece voice the words "we have partnered with ...", you should think "fascism" because that's what it is.
We HAD a growth economy. Perpetual growth on a finite planet is NOT possible; so, whatever your favorite ideology, if it is predicated on growth then it too will fail.
So, I blame the fundamental premise which no one dares to question...
You don't understand economics.
The economy does not have to "grow". The whole point of an economy is to get more efficient. Efficiency is not growth
This is what Keynesian/environmentalist propaganda does to people.
Spitzer - I am supprised you got down voted here.
The great economic myth of infinite growth is nothing but a big fat Keynesian lie. it will be our undoing.
Stein's law: "If something cannot go on forever it will stop."
A bit like saying the water is wet but there you go. True none the less. Simple physics actually...
The economy must grow, if you want pensions instead of Logan's Run. Back in the old days of Canada (before the white man) old people used to put themselves on ice flows to die, so they wouldn't be a burden on the tribe ...
Nope
The economy DOES NOT have to grow. Productivity and efficiency does.
Hasn't their middle class been ahead for decades? They have the same tax rates as us but their taxes include free, unlimited health care.
their taxes include free, unlimited health care
Umm, no.
"Absolutely no cost to me". Oh wait, that an ad for American scooters.
They aren't controlled by the no-value-add insurance industry. But... yes, nothing is "free." And the end to Canada's growth will eventually result in the realization that all is not as free as they once thought.
Growth hides a wide array of "sins."
A few months back, I got into an argument with a canadian I worked with briefly. He was playing hockey with his friends and took a stick to the knee that tore his ACL. He had surgery within the week, here.
Of course we took the time to yak about canadian vs American health care. I went to the canadian govt's own website that estimated it would have taken A YEAR for that twit to get the surgery under the 'free and unlimited plan'. He just would NOT accept that and and wouldn't shut the hell up about it. Prolly why his dumb ass got fired.
Of course, there's also the part where Canada has pioneered NADA in medicine and relies on American invention for both their defense and their medicine.
Well, the Americans pretty much screwed us out of all our innovative defense industry, and strong armed our weak politicians. Back in the 1950s, we had some real opportunities to be leaders.
Not just the Avro Arrow, but the giant space gun, track-ball GUI based networked ship communications for target tracking, all kinds of cool stuff. If only we had better political leaders in the 1950s, we could have had the first satellite in orbit.
Yep. Thats when the US infiltrated Canadian politics and force fed us a dose of Dutch disease. Not really sure why...
But we don't get those free meal (beer) cards and 'bamma phones
Obama's federal debt alone indebted every US citizen by $4600.00 in 2012.
Canada's conservative Prime Minister's federal debt indebted every Canadian citizen by $600.00 in 2012.
Canada will not be running a deficit in 2015
And many here have the nerve to refer to Canada as socialist?
We didn't vote a communist into office, you did.
As per the so called housing bubble, most here think that the real estate economy of Canada revolves around Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal....wrong.
Our mortgages are not tax deductable and we didn't have communist's force our banks to give mortgages to lowlife in order to garner votes.
Bahaha
No, that's true. The banks just shove it back onto the taxpayer through CMHC. Is that holding the bag for a trillion yet?
900k crackshacks in Van and 416 to first time buyers in for less than 5% down through cashbacks and helper mortgage programs.
And CREA is the most crooked fucking organisation known to man. That douche David Lereah formerly from the NAR has nothing on these scumbags. Gregory Klump is the twisted cunt of a chief economist at CREA. The type of scumbag who looks like he'd rape medium sized rodents and children for weekend sport.
Fucking hedonic indexes to ensure they can keep fiddling the median price each month, revising and then telling the dumbfuck media prices went up again. Then when he's questioned, launches nuclear attacks on the dissenting voices.
It will be beautiful to see it all burn.
[erroneous post]
It's going to get harder for Americans to cross the border into Canada for a better life.
Any Mexicans out there who can share any travel tips about illegal border crossings?
Get. Off. The. Boat.
Never.
There's a middle class in America?
How many of them are saving 10% of their wages?
Not many.
"The value of our labor is declining with each passing day"
disagree.
the value has not changed, just the compensation.
the law of large numbers dictates that as the rich get really really really big, those numbers have to come from somewhere. that somewhere is labor.
can't be innovation. that get's promoted in value.
can't come from commodities. 'cause that just makes the rich get rich faster.
etc.
ergo sum, labor.
be it at a field of corn or at a desk of wood...
:)
Rob Ford for President !!!
I did not do the crack.
"Janet Gornick, the director of LIS, noted that inequality in so-called market incomes — which does not count taxes or government benefits — “is high but not off the charts in the United States.” Yet the American rich pay lower taxes than the rich in many other places, and the United States does not redistribute as much income to the poor as other countries do. As a result, inequality in disposable income is sharply higher in the United States than elsewhere."
As is often the case, there are lies, damned lies and liars with statistics.
Give me some stats on China and I'll torture them until they reveal that the Chinese government is the most freedom loving government on the face of the earth ;-)
Whip China out when you need something ugly to whip...
Well, "officially" they have 60% polluted ground water.
Its that whole top-down-regulatory-control-for-the-people thingy that has me perplexed ;-)
Apples to Oranges at best here.
Canada: 34 mil
US: Ten times that with the fucking illegals, and a cracked-out government lousy with fucking assholes.
Canada: Oil out the ass, and drilling baby - fracking crackin and WHACKING that oil out. I immediately know that I have a dullard on my hands when I ask them;
What country - far and away - leads in imported oil to the US?
(You'd be surprised how ....FUCKING DUMB PEOPLE ARE)
Too cold for most ebony skinned people. No slavery to mooch off of. The Asians in Vancouver didn't arrive as slaves; arrived ready to set up shop/pay taxes, etc.
Apples to Oranges
Private Bailey
And what's really stupid is when people predicate an entire way of life on something that is only short-lived. Imagine!
Party on!
This is based on Canadians' net worth - which is based on the world's biggest housing and debt bubble. 165% debt-to-equity.
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2014/04/23/faux-times/
Think U.S. home"owner" circa 2005...
The 150 billion in cash Apple has is imaginary money too.
Yeah, I mean this was already brought up in another article on ZH recently and now we get Snyder completely overlooking a HUGE factor here.
I'd like to think that I've got an ear to the ground up in Canada and have a decent understanding of how "average" people are doing. I see flashing red signs...
"Meanwhile, the politicians and the media keep telling us that if we just keep doing the same old things that everything will work out okay somehow."
No they are saying, "If you, the sheeple, keep letting us do the things we're doing to you, everything will be okay."
I say lets change things up with guillotines and see what happens. My money, gold, is on things getting better with guillotines.
"GIC: The guillotine-industrial-complex."
"I made about 150 last year; gunning for 180 this year...as a sheet metal installer"
Canadian houses are made from sheet metal?
Apparently you weren't familiar with how hard the Mountain Pine Beattle has been on Canadian lumber? </sarc>
I would assume that the metal is used for the roof, very common in climates that get more than one centimeter of snow.
Heat ducts. Our roofs are made of wood. Just like witches.
Let me know when the middle class in Mexico is doing better than the middle class in the US.
I had to laugh when he said Canada is booming. I live in Canada, it is not booming I can tell you. Canada is in massive delusion, still building while demand is falling, still borrowing though in more debt than ever, and the govt is playing the same games with stats the US plays.
Here's some examples.
Vancouver's commercial vacancy rate has doubled inside a year and is approaching double digits. Meanwhile, there are more commercial buildings being built simultaneously than ever in history.
Toronto's condo market has overbuilt by about 70,000 condos, yet they're putting up more condos than ever.
Canadians per capita are in more debt by far than Americans were in 2007.
Our oil Iindustry is not booming. We get paid far less per barrel due to it being shitty, tar sands oil. I've heard that Albrrta(Canada's Texas)is shutting off hydro to thousands of unsold new houses due to them not selling.
Dont believe this story. The US buys over 70% of our exports. If the US is struggling, so is Canada, obviously.
It's not that bad, yet.
Carpenter1, can you dig up any numbers on college/university enrollment? I'd be interested to see if there's a drop in Chinese students. I'm holding to my prediction that a downturn in China will result in a call-back of a lot of Chinese students studying up there, and that that will severely impact the rental markets (which in turn hammers real estate).
'
'
www.torontocondobubble.com Check out his web site for the big scoop on the real estate business in Canada.
You can't buy bacon anymore in 1lb packages. Maple Leaf just down-sized their bacon to 375 grams.
•J•
V-V
You forgot the Trump tower currenctly in construction in Vancouver. Right in Coal Harbour with it's already many half-empty condo buildings.
everyone here was rich too....on paper...in 2007.
Canada is a few years behind us in their RE bubble.
And there's is actually worse.
Enjoy it while it lasts, hosers!
"And there's is actually worse."
Well, as long as we're comparing... Anyone out there in Aussie land wish to whip theirs out?
I believe in the country America used to be. sometime around 1840.
Yeah, when the hills were still covered in trees and filled with gold... And, if you could only go back in time and take all the comforts of home (and not have to deal with nature and stuff), yeah, that would be cool!
I was going to write "1950s Los Angeles" but then I remembered the civil war and becoming a corporation.
There's never been a "perfect" time. And those times that many think were great were likely only great because everyone was actively involved in a big feast of resources, too busy to really be clubbing one-another over the heads (though there was the slavery and gunslinging parts).
Yes, you are right. Sometimes I believe, "this is the best of all possible worlds".
Socialism is evil; it ruins middle class and destroys trickle-down economics...
Wow! Thanks for that heretofore never disclosed bit of information!
News flash! GROWTH DESTROYS THE FUTURE.
3,000 years of empire collapses and ideology has been shown to be of little contributing factor:
http://www.rexresearch.com/glubb/glubb-empire.pdf
As a Canadian I can tell you this is all hype, Canadians have a huge personal debt load and refuse to except that it's all coming to an end, cognative dissonance is the best description I can come up with.
The government up here continues to devalue the dollar with low interest rates which in turn pumps up the housing bubble and consumer spending, which keeps people in low paying service jobs, there are lots of unemployed but getting honest unemployment numbers from the govenment, well I guess we're in the same boat as ya'll down there.
As a business owner I've seen my annual sales halved over the last 4 years from the 06-07 highs, with a little rebound this year.
We produce retail and industrial packaging for manufacturing and wholesalers so my business is, I think a good barometer of the overall economy.
The building boom continues with rich devlopers over building, using their cash reserves and cheap money because trades are hungary and will work for next to nothing just to keep their employees and keep the dollars turning over.
I've heard numbers that over 60% of our economy is government, as in health care, civil service, and government contracts, this is what is supporting any middle class we have left in Canada, the industrial base has been outsourced just like in US.
When the SHTF up here there will be a lot of peolpe who'll say they didn't see it coming, to them I can only laugh in their faces.
Good points steelrules. It's just that people like Newfie above get under my skin because they seem to imply that "Americanization" is so great, and that Canadians shouldn't be proud of all the accomplishments we have made towards social justice [I'm not saying it's perfect here].
Yup. By and large we Canadians keep drinking the kool-aide. Although the cracks in the façade are becoming more obvious by the day. Cognitive dissonance is painful.
A strongly corporatist media peddles NWO globalist BS non-stop.(even from the venerable CBC - professional journalism is dead save small portions of the net) Harper is a downright embarrassment. What a sycophantic dickhead!
Cannot believe the overbuilding still going on. Vancouver RE? All I can say is eventually it will break. Nobody can predict the when. Rest assured we Canadians are in for a rough ride in the not too distant future. Along with the rest of the planet.
When the coming civil war strikes the USA, Canada, and BC specifically and places like the GULF-ISLANDS will be a refuge, and piss what you want about Canada, but there will be no refuge in the USA other than in ALASKA, and there its too fucking cold to live.
CANADA is still rich in resource, the LOCUSTS have ripped all from the earth in the USA, .. no fucking comparison to the two country's.
Even more so in Austrailia and New Zealand, rich in resource.
America post WW2 was hyper-speed raped and pillaged, and now its just a vast cemetary waiting to bury the dead.
BS! Middle class in Canada is more indebted than the middle class in the US. Candian housing bubble is still growing...
And when it comes to bankes, we're seeing ours shut down by the dozen each month since 2008. Haven't ran out of banks yet.
Canada has 5 major banks. That's it! Loose one and...
So true
Property Brothers to the rescue.
"...it seems like almost everyone that wants to work has a job."
Not exactly as it seems. It is very difficult to find and retain work here in Canada and quality jobs are few and far between and becoming more and more scarce by the day. Many companies are now abusing the Canadian Government's Temporary Foreign Worker program which brings in temporary labour from various countries around the world. These people are paid less and are having money taken from them to subsidize their living arrangements given to them by their employers or the agencies who have brought them here. Many Canadian born workers who have been employed for decades within the same industry--some with the same employer--are now being let go in favor on lower paid temporary foreign workers who are willing to put up with all kinds of crap that native Canadians wouldn't. The temporary foreign worker program can be compared to a modern day slave trade of sorts. Check the stories out for yourselves:
Temporary Foreign Worker Program: McDonald's Franchise In B.C. Investigatedhttp://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/04/06/mcdonalds-victoria-investigated_...
Complaints about temporary foreign worker program spreadhttp://www.vancouversun.com/Complaints+about+temporary+foreign+worker+pr...
Waitresses in Saskatchewan lose jobs to foreign workershttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/waitresses-in-saskatchewan-lo...
Service sector sees spike in temporary foreign workershttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/service-sector-sees-spike-i...
Help wanted: Ontario's temporary foreign workers and the need for answershttp://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/behind-numbers/2014/04/help-wanted-ontar...
And it's not only service industry jobs that are hiring foreign workers, the lucrative Canadian mining, oil and gas industries are as well:
The values and vulnerabilities of Canada’s temporary foreign workers programhttps://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/values-vulnerabilities-canada-...
Canada: home to cold weather and governmentshttp://www.stalbertgazette.com/article/20140405/SAG0903/304059970/-1/sag...
So you see, it's not all sunshine and roses here in the Great White North--we are facing the same problems as the US in many areas, not just employment. Many here are too proud to tell you when things aren't going so good for them. When a Canadian is doing well, he/she will tell you they're doing fine. When they are doing poorly, they'll tell you they're doing great! You never really know how badly people are faring here until the inevitable happens. You can usually tell that the "inevitable" stage is near when someone proclaims themselves to be a self-employed "Coach" and "Consultant". Here is where the giant bowl of proverbial shit begins tipping toward the fan.
You are obviously up on things up there. There's lots of good people up there. Sadly, lots of people are going to suffer. And I hope that folks don't take it out on the immigrants.
That's a good point and, when I read the most recent story about McDonald's, I thought that this is eventually where it's all leading to.