Donald Trump is on the brink of becoming a dictator. Can he be stopped?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

A socialist discovers that high taxes causes capital to flee. And low taxes attract capital.

Who could have guessed that.

[chuckChuck]

Yes, because the most important thing is that we are all getting poorer equally.
Burn it all down and end up like Venezuela or Zimbabwe, so long as no one makes more money than Chuck.
At least it's fair that way.

Remember when you claimed to be a 6000 acre capitalist farmer (LOL), What percentile of the 1% you vilify do you suppose a 6000 acre farmer would fall in?
Can you describe how you have been voluntarily sharing that wealth to achieve a fair economy?

Getting poor equally? huh?

Lots of immigration diluted our GDP. But our standard of living is still very high relatively speaking. And inmigration is slowing.

You need to stop your chronic whining and complaining about how bad you have it in Alberta!

You keep bringing up farm size which makes me think you are envious of others good fortune.

And anybody who has any significant amount of farm land is better off than the average Canadian. So you don't have much land or you have little equity? So tell us what are you whining about again A5?

[furrowtickler]

Trump is the president of the USA.
Our problems were created here.
Trump's policy certainly spotlights our problem with a government that is more virtuous than competent.
We have wasted 10 yrs on all kinds of wierd distractions while our economy went down the toilet.
We clearly are continuing in that direction while Trump is flushing all that and headed in a more economics only direction.

The money is all spent on the new green economy.
That model is driving investment to the US.

Signh needs to be added to that picture

[chuckChuck]

Canadians have a higher standard of living and well-being than Americans
Jim Stanford

Prosperity depends not just on how much is produced, but how it is distributed. Bank of Canada research shows most of the U.S. advantage in per capita GDP is concentrated among high-income earners.

Three-quarters of the gap in per capita output is captured by higher incomes for the top 10 percent of Americans. There is little difference in incomes between the bottom 90 percent in the two countries.

The richest 10 percent of Americans receive almost half ([url]https://wid.world/data/[/url]) of all pre-tax income, so their wealth significantly inflates the overall per capita average.

In fact, most Canadian workers earn higher wages than those in the U.S. It is most accurate to measure typical incomes by the median wage (the halfway point in a distribution), not the average (which can be distorted by very high incomes at the top).

The median hourly wage in Canada in 2023 was Cdn $28.79 or US$24.61 at the OECD’s purchasing power parity exchange rate.

The median hourly wage ([url]https://www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes_nat.htm[/url]) in the U.S. in 2023 was US$23.11. The typical Canadian worker thus earned 6.5 percent more than their U.S. counterpart, despite lower per capita GDP.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Canadian worker also paid a lower marginal federal tax rate (20.5 percent for full-time workers) than their U.S. counterpart (22 percent ([url]https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/2023-tax-brackets/[/url])).

Of course, public services, not just private incomes, are also important to living standards. Canada’s more extensive health care, public education and other services enhance the quality of life in ways not captured by per capita GDP.

For example, eight percent of Americans have no health insurance and one-quarter are underinsured (facing out-of-pocket costs that force many to skip needed care). That takes much of the shine off a higher GDP.

For all these reasons, it is clear the typical Canadian has a higher standard of living than the typical American. We are healthier ([url]https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2024/sep/mirror-mirror-2024[/url]), live three years longer ([url]https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/life-expectancy-at-birth/country-comparison/[/url]), face much less inequality ([url]https://ourworldindata.org/economic-inequality[/url]) and are happier ([url]https://data.worldhappiness.report/table[/url]).

These outcomes are not accidents. They reflect deliberate policy choices (including regulation, taxes and public programs) that shape both production and distribution to improve well-being.

In that light, Canada has continued to make progress in recent years – contrary to claims we have suffered a lost decade ([url]https://thehub.ca/2024/03/11/sean-speer-and-taylor-jackson-canadas-lost-decade/[/url]).

For example, the poverty rate (as defined by Statistics Canada’s market basket measure) fell by one-third between 2015 and 2022. Average real hourly wages (after inflation) are nine percent higher than a decade ago, despite post-COVID inflation. The average unemployment rate was lower over the last decade than the previous decade.

The United Nations human development index (HDI) confirms Canada’s success in converting economic activity into well-being. It attempts to directly measure living standards, rather than relying on per capita GDP to evaluate well-being. The HDI considers three components: per capita gross national income (GNI), life expectancy (a proxy for health) and education.

Canada ranked 18th on the latest HDI scorecard, three places ahead of the U.S. Canada’s human development has improved more than twice as fast since 2010 as the U.S.

Canada ranks eight places higher on HDI than on GNI per capita – confirming the country efficiently improves human welfare with its economic resources. In contrast, the U.S. ranks 11 places lower on HDI than GNI, a bigger negative gap than any other developed country.

In sum, per capita GDP is a deeply flawed measure that says little about real-world living standards. To be sure, Canada has much to improve in its economy: not only to produce more but also to produce it more sustainably and use it more effectively to improve human and social conditions.

Nevertheless, the typical Canadian lives better than the typical American across a wide range of tangible indicators. Living standards for most Canadians have improved over the last decade, not cratered.

We should not be misled by one flawed, abstract measure into believing that Canada is somehow an economic basket case.
?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Getting poor equally? huh?

Lots of immigration diluted our GDP. But our standard of living is still very high relatively speaking. And inmigration is slowing.

You need to stop your chronic whining and complaining about how bad you have it in Alberta!

You keep bringing up farm size which makes me think you are envious of others good fortune.

And anybody who has any significant amount of farm land is better off than the average Canadian. So you don't have much land or you have little equity? So tell what are you whining about again A5?

I'm not whining, I'm ridiculing your socialist hypocrisy of complaining about wealth inequality and the 1%, while claiming to be among the 1%.

[blackpowder]

Perhaps the point Chuck wants to make is that it is alright to be the last mouse in the pail to drown.
Once aware you're in a pail however, all the why's and how's beg answering.

[chuckChuck]

But Absurd 5 and BP, you are not better off than the average Canadian with your farm and land holdings? Then that explains why you are so sore!

Try to stick to the topic!

"In sum, per capita GDP is a deeply flawed measure that says little about real-world living standards. To be sure, Canada has much to improve in its economy: not only to produce more but also to produce it more sustainably and use it more effectively to improve human and social conditions.

Nevertheless, the typical Canadian lives better than the typical American across a wide range of tangible indicators. Living standards for most Canadians have improved over the last decade, not cratered.

We should not be misled by one flawed, abstract measure into believing that Canada is somehow an economic basket case.?"

[shtferbrains]

You think Canadians think this is a better country than it was 10 yrs ago?
Young people have given up on ever being able to afford their own house.
You can't go to any city center and walk the street.

Get real Chuck.