The Average Canadian is Now Richer than the Average American

[Courtesy Flush]

Source: Time

Watch out, Americans: Your thrifty, socialist neighbors to the north have stealthily become richer than you.

Over the past five years, the average net worth of Canadian households has exceeded that of American households. So for the the first time in history, Canadians are wealthier than Americans — by more than $40,000, on average. In 2011, the average net worth of a Canadian household was $363,202, compared to $319,970 in the U.S., according to Environics Analytics WealthScapes data published in the Globe and Mail. (‘Average net worth’ measures the total combined value of a household’s liquid and real estate assets, minus debt.)




Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/17/the-average-canadian-is-now-richer-than-the-average-american/

[n2doc]

1. Yeah, but we got more billionaires

And them's the only ones that count! Hoo-rah! USA!USA!USA!

[canuckledragger]

2. It's still not so rosy here...

In my hometown of Kingston, Ontario for instance the minimum wage is $10.25/hr

... but the majority of jobs available are service-type jobs at part-time hours. Lots of businesses will keep you at just under 40 hours a week to avoid paying overtime (you make hourly wage + half again on overtime) or to pay out any benefits.

The rental prices here are outrageous & the 'poor' are slowly being squeezed out because most of the real estate being developed here is priced out of range for normal folks (but not to nearby retiring Toronto business owners & the like)

Most making these wages can't pay rent & expect to eat too so most live with family & other room mates...hardly anyone I knew growing up here owns a home, most rent.

Saving money is a joke to most people, most live paycheck to paycheck here.

just a few examples of our 'rosy robust economy' that Stephen Harper bragged about.

[ohgeewhiz]

4. In the USA, minimum wage is $7.40, with no health care

no vacation, no sick leave, no maternity leave. Subtract about 10% for Social Security retirement and state taxes.

Kingston is not an inexpensive city, but try working in the USA, in, say Rochester, or Buffalo, (similar climate), and making $7.40 an hour with no health insurance. In NY state, registering and insurance for a car, (assuming you can afford one), is over $1000 a year, about 4 week's take-home pay, just for insurance and registration, not for gas.

Food costs and apartment costs are roughly the same in many upstate NY larger cities as they are in Kingston. It's no picnic here.

[ohgeewhiz]

3. 11 years ago I was considering moving there

I really was! I was looking to move there and start a business.

Unfortunately, I moved too slowly, and lost the business investment opportunity to someone from another nation, not Canada.

If I had my life to live over again, I'd have moved faster, and gone all out, but, of course, I love the USA, and didn't want to give up on her... just because Bush was President, then 9/11 happened a month or two later.

The property I was considering was selling at a Canadian dollar worth $.64 US. It is now worth quadruple in Canadian dollars on the tax rolls, and is up for sale again. But now the Canadian dollar is on par with the US dollar, roughly. Doing the math, had I bought it, it would be worth 6 times as much today in American dollars.

Hats off to Canada, for a much more well-run government, for national and provincial health care, for solid banking regulations, beautiful countryside, green energy, lots of oil, coal, gas, and wind and solar and tidal power available. You have a great nation up there.

[HIlton Brackett]

5. Oh Canada

It helps to of had years of "Buy Canadian" campaigns and a little pride in what you make.

[Earth_First]

6. Uh, which household has a net value of $319,970?

Certainly not our household...

[Skittles]

12. not sure where they got that either

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/news/economy/fed-family-net-worth/index.htm

[treestar]

7. Another evil result of NAFTA

[Third Doctor]

8. Canada is a great model for the future.

It has sociaized medicine and it does not spend billions of dollars on a huge military industrial complex.

[harun]

14. We'd be implementing that model if it wasn't for the GOP

[slackmaster]

9. The average American has one ball and one tit

Just like the average Canadian.

[Puzzler]

10. Canada has had a higher standard of living for a few years...

... and we have no shortage a mega rich, either (in case anyone's worried about them).

[ensemble]

11. Median net worth difference probably even larger....

or if you subtract out the top 1% from each country.

[thu062012]

13. Spam deleted by Paulie (MIR Team)