Eenteresting
Jun. 8th, 2010 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpagehttp://www.escapefromamerica.com/2010/06/escape-from-america-the-grim-truth
It makes me wonder: how much better do Canadians really have it? With our government leading us down the merry fundamentalist path, prioritizing the tar sands and downplaying any environmental effects; with our economy mostly service-based already, and more than 70% of what exports we have going straight to the States; with our national medical association claiming our health care is in collapse, because they know they can make more money if it's private, and then working to make sure it happens; with crushing levels of consumer debt here, too; and with the fact that 80% of us live within an hour's drive of the American border; how much better is it here?
It's at least slightly better. I'm not convinced that Canada will be able to avoid being pulled down if (perhaps I should say when, but I'm not quite that much of a pessimist) the U.S. collapses.
On the list of things we've got going for us: we're one of the few Western nations that is NOT technically insolvent, though Harper's economic policies may very well turn that around. (Ironic, isn't it, that the previous Liberal government was the fiscally responsible one except for a couple of scandals, while the current, theoretically more conservative government is cutting taxes and raising spending and generally driving us deeper into the hole.) We've got one of the strongest banking systems in the world. Our workforce has a higher percentage of well-educated people than the States (though lower than most of Europe.)
It makes me wonder: how much better do Canadians really have it? With our government leading us down the merry fundamentalist path, prioritizing the tar sands and downplaying any environmental effects; with our economy mostly service-based already, and more than 70% of what exports we have going straight to the States; with our national medical association claiming our health care is in collapse, because they know they can make more money if it's private, and then working to make sure it happens; with crushing levels of consumer debt here, too; and with the fact that 80% of us live within an hour's drive of the American border; how much better is it here?
It's at least slightly better. I'm not convinced that Canada will be able to avoid being pulled down if (perhaps I should say when, but I'm not quite that much of a pessimist) the U.S. collapses.
On the list of things we've got going for us: we're one of the few Western nations that is NOT technically insolvent, though Harper's economic policies may very well turn that around. (Ironic, isn't it, that the previous Liberal government was the fiscally responsible one except for a couple of scandals, while the current, theoretically more conservative government is cutting taxes and raising spending and generally driving us deeper into the hole.) We've got one of the strongest banking systems in the world. Our workforce has a higher percentage of well-educated people than the States (though lower than most of Europe.)
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Date: 2010-06-08 10:03 pm (UTC)