The Average Canadian Now Richer Than the Average American

Waitaminute! While we're busy trying not to lose our shirt in the Great Recession, those sneaky Canadians managed to get richer than us Yanks. But how did it happen?

On July 1, Canada Day, Canadians awoke to a startling, if pleasant, piece of news: For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American.

According to data from Environics Analytics WealthScapes published in the Globe and Mail, the net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, while the average American household’s net worth was $319,970.

A few days later, Canada and the U.S. both released the latest job figures. Canada’s unemployment rate fell, again, to 7.2 percent, and America’s was a stagnant 8.2 percent. Canada continues to thrive while the U.S. struggles to find its way out of an intractable economic crisis and a political sine curve of hope and despair.

The difference grows starker by the month: The Canadian system is working; the American system is not. And it’s not just Canadians who are noticing. As Iceland considers switching to a currency other than the krona, its leaders’ primary focus of interest is the loonie -- the Canadian dollar.

Stephen Marche of Bloomberg explains: Link - via The Week


Another thing to consider is that the 'average' American suffers from greater income inequality than the 'average' Canadian, as a consequence of the more volatile economics. It's that 99% thing, too.
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What's a "political sine curve", lol! That means an equal frequency and amplitude of hope and despair over time, which is hardly realistic. Best just stick to the topic
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Talk about a biased article/editorial. I don't know that it's a great explanation since it comes far from covering all the important details. The most basic issue is that you can't talk "richer" unless you factor in Cost Of Living, which is notably higher for the bulk of Canadians. Also, the reason Canada is in better shape now than the US isn't because it's trending better, it's because the economy is more stable, which simply means that as the US slumps, Canada still hangs on. On the flip side, as the US booms (until such time that the US economy actually does collapse and there are no more booms), Canada won't see quite as large of a benefit.

There is serious discussion and lesson-learning to be done here, but unfortunately this article skips it all for the sake more political BS.
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Canada only has roughly 34.5 million people to the US's 311.6 million people. Why not compare Canada to California which has a population of 37.7 million people? California has an unemployment rate of 10.8% down 0.6% since the last economic indicator and the California net worth has dropped 3.67% during the same time. So clearly the Canandian system is working and Calfornia system is not.

Now let's look at Texas (popuulation ~25.7 million). It's latest unemployment figure has dropped to 6.9% and the net worth has increased 0.9%. So clearly the Texas system is working and the Canadian system is not.
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@Muzition , I am an ex-pat Canadian mate, living in Melbourne as I type, and I wouldn't buy that plane ticket just yet..

the governments reported unemployment rate is around 5.3% at present, which on the surface seems to be much lower than in Canada, but take this idiotic tidbit into account....

The Australian government classifies working 1 (ONE) hour a week as being "fully" employed and there for not counted in official employment stats.

In actual fact the unemployment rate is around 10-15% with rumours the rate is closer to 20% ... so ya save your cash mate.. If I could I'd bail on this train wreck personally... buuut I can't

for some insight, have a quick read of this news article from today:
http://www.theage.com.au/business/late-payments-not-better-for-battling-firms-20120718-229ku.html
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It makes sense, since we basically avoided the housing market crash, and the majority of personal wealth is tied up in real estate. I gotta say though, even though we have more money per capita on average, I'm still jealous of the USA's insanely cheap booze, groceries and gas!
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I'm going to get very mad at the next person who mentions Canada's "low" unemployment rate.

I'm an unemployed Canadian. When my Australian friend visited Canada, he said that if unemployment was as "high" in Australia as it was in Canada, there'd be fricking riots in Australia.

Maybe I should pack my bags and move to Australia.
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oK,
Percentages REALLY suck..
If you dont understand this..
Figure this out..

99 People make $1 and the boss makes $100..Whats the average?
$2..Twice as much as in reality.

IF you take an Even amount or persons off both ends..
1 and 1.. You get 98 persons at $1..Which is closer then the first.
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PS that's a picture of a toonie. The loonie is all one colour, usually with a loon on it. Of course, our brilliant minds came up with calling the 2 dollar coin a mixture of two and loonie...sigh.
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I admit my knowledge of how economies and currencies work (or don't work) is not too strong, however, after what happened to Iceland and all the fishermen-turned-financial wizards, I don't think I want them anywhere near our loonies!
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