12 thoughts on “An Historic First”

  2. Darn that George Bush! Still so powerful he can wreck the economy even after all these years of Democrat control!

  3. Based on what metric? That article doesn’t say it only references a “a decline in the number of US citizens who believe that hard work will get them ahead.”

    1. Some numbers I pulled off the web, I haven’t verified these but they seem right.

      Debt
      US: $52,133
      California: $10,126
      Total debt: $62,259

      GDP/cap: $51,914 (Debt to GDP 119%)

      Debt
      Canada: $17,249
      Quebec: $31,520
      Total: $48,769

      GDP/cap: $43,230 (Debt to GDP 112%)

      I picked Quebec because it has one of the higher debt ratios in the country. If you do the above calc with a state like Alberta Canada comes out way ahead…

    1. That’s what I had in mind.

      Add in the drop in house worth, folks unemployed or under employed, and I see the gap widening.

      Those who are working are not getting raises or COLAs, and costs for everything are higher, the gap become a chasm.

  5. I thought it was because of the tar sands oil they found in Canada. But of course you have to blame it on Obama. Perhaps if the US hadn’t canned their shale oil program when Reagan was President the US would have been running a similar industry on its own soil. Had Canada did the same back then they would still be known for exporting timber and electricity to the US. Thankfully your petroleum engineers found an alternative but it will take time to ramp up.

  6. The actual Press Release dates from October 30, 2012, so this is actually old news.

    http://www.li.com/media/press-releases/2012-legatum-prosperity-index-american-dream-at-risk-in-key-election-year

    Also the index developed by the Legatum Institute is only four years old and they are still adding countries to it.

    A quick look at its methodology seems to favor European lifestyles in terms of how prosperity is measured, basically a combination of material wealth and “life satisfaction”, not surprising for an European think tank, especially one funded by money from a UAE investment group.

    BTW the methodology is outlined here.

    http://webapi.prosperity.com/download/pdf/PI2012_MethodologyV4.pdf

    So I guess what it says is Canadians have greater prosperity based on European definitions of prosperity than Americans. Gee, what a surprise 🙂

    Actually this is a good example of the need to properly research the sources of news items before using them to form an opinion.

    1. It’s old news that Japan bombed Pear Harbor too TM, but it doesn’t change the accuracy of the report!
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      “Actually this is a good example of the need to properly research the sources of news items before using them to form an opinion.”

      You should send that line to all the knee jerkers who are reporting that the CT shooter’s mother was a prepper, convinced she knew the world was ending and bent on shooting her neighbors and eating their children after the end of the Mayan Calendar.

      1. Der Schtumpy,

        What accuracy? All this shows is that you are able to “prove” anything by just selecting the right mix of variables for an index. Then call yourself a think tank and folks will buy it just like Rand and you did 🙂

        1. I actually discussed with an Asian migrant here in Europe once about where she wanted to migrate next given the current economic environment and she said Canada or Australia. Yeah I know its an anecdote. Make of that what you will.

          For them it was about the rise in the price of commodities and associated capital flows associated with them.

  7. Not as of 2011. From the CIA World Fact Book:

    GDP / capita (PPP)

    United States: $48,300
    Canada: $40,500

    So the average American was 19% wealthier than the average Canadian. I doubt it’s changed that much in a year.

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