Why Canada is prospering and the US is not...

[kEiThZ]

Anybody who believes this crock has a surprise coming shortly.

Sure, we didn't have NINJA loans (or at least to the level of the USA). But anybody needing CMHC would be defined as sub-prime under the US definition.

Our family debt levels have soared to levels not seen in the US. And now a whole whack of them are going to reset at substantially higher rates.

Add to that, a major economic shift perpetuated by the onset of Dutch disease in Ontario.

 

[chloe22]

It comes down to the people who run the 'stable banking system' the people, the individuals who attitude is not 'money not dominating politics' and the people that have 'less hostility towards immigrants'

Canadians in general are less aggressive and less individual - ego - centred, and that ripples into the organizations and systems..which in turn affects the nation.

on the other hand, Americans have a more individual, me , me and that affects the organizations (since organizations are run by indiviual people).

If everyone works together, rather than against...or at least towards the former, the whole will operate better.

Everyone: From Yahoo Finance/news (5/14) comes these interesting observations:

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/dail...s-prospering-and-america-isn-t-150359533.html

1-A Stable Banking system
2-Money not dominating politics
3-Less hostility towards immigrants

These are good points - but not all is well...Is a housing bubble in Canada's future?

Thoughts anyone? LI MIKE

 

[Johnny Au]

Burger King has plans to purchase Tim Hortons, so that Burger King can became a Canadian corporation, thereby paying much less tax to the American government.

This is a notable case of tax inversions.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Actually it's the opposite. America is booming economically right now, while Canada's three stool economy (banking, energy and agriculture) are wavering. I'm here in Chicago this week for meetings at my employer's HQ, and they're seeing huge growth numbers in domestic sales.

 

[Jcanada]

We were making things but with the hydro scandal Ontario lost 350,000 jobs in manufacturing and no one is doing anything about it. Also we lost most call centres to india. Our IT is half wiped away- at least in Ottawa- these people now drive taxis.

 

[Jcanada]

Massive immigration should not be the focus for Canada, job creation for the 2 million skilled unemployed is a good idea. Also it cost us millions in social services. Does anyone realize free medical is not 'free'- it is 425,000 per year per person in Canada for healthcare.

 

[Jcanada]

Toronto's poverty level is now 29%,the highest its ever been. It used to be 10% or under....

 

[yin_yang]

Americans don't care about each other anymore.

this.

 

[Mongo]

Does anyone realize free medical is not 'free'- it is 425,000 per year per person in Canada for healthcare.

WTF? So an average Canadian's annual medical costs are 10 times their annual income? Where exactly do you get your numbers? Fox News?

 

[yin_yang]

^LMAO.

 

[blueskies]

I don't think the Canadian economy is doing that well.

Our dollar is getting murdered in the currency exchanges. Looks like the US economy is making a strong comeback.

 

[Gabinator]

Errr yeah... i mean.. Housing Bubble's definitely going to be an issue. Immigrants, particularly the wealthy Chinese immigrants are really what's causing the housing bubble. They bring a shit load of $ to Canada, all with intentions to live here, invest here, actually, which is fine and all.... but they boost the demand on housing so much.

 

[kEiThZ]

Errr yeah... i mean.. Housing Bubble's definitely going to be an issue. Immigrants, particularly the wealthy Chinese immigrants are really what's causing the housing bubble. They bring a shit load of $ to Canada, all with intentions to live here, invest here, actually, which is fine and all.... but they boost the demand on housing so much.

Racist tosh. Raise the interest rates to 10% and watch where housing prices go. It's not "wealthy Chinese immigrants". It's native Canadians who go to the bank and pre-qualify for $400k mortgages on a $60k salary and then think it's okay to actually buy even a $350k condo. Interest rate normalization is almost here and it'll be quite the learning opportunity.

 

[cruzin4u]

Racist tosh. Raise the interest rates to 10% and watch where housing prices go. It's not "wealthy Chinese immigrants". It's native Canadians who go to the bank and pre-qualify for $400k mortgages on a $60k salary and then think it's okay to actually buy even a $350k condo. Interest rate normalization is almost here and it'll be quite the learning opportunity.

It's people in general. Whether it be Chinese, Canadian, Iranian, Alien - people are buying houses that are out of their reach.

 

[James]

But it's just so much easier to point the finger on "them", i.e. foreign money, instead of on "us"! [/sarcasm]

Canadian overall debt levels would not be as high as it is if it weren't for Canadians overextending financially. There are multiple factors occurring here and burgeoning real estate is but one factor (albeit a big one) driving Canadians to overspend.

In any case, with the U.S. Fed rate hike announcement yesterday, the loonie is now below $0.72 to the USD. Let's just say I don't think it's a particularly good time to go cross-border shopping now.