Americans like to make fun of Canada.
After all what is Canada known for? Moose, snow, frostbite?
New statistics now reveal the joke should be on America.
Last week, the New York Times reported that after-tax incomes of the Canadian middle class now exceed those of the United States.
That’s right…middle class Canadiens are richer.
From 2000 to 2010, median income in Canada rose by 20 percent while remaining virtually flat in the United States.
It would appear that decades of rising income inequality in the United States is beginning to chip away at our standing as the shining example of the social harmony of free market capitalism.
In fact, free market capitalism is itself under attack. A new book challenging its merits has rose to the top of the Amazon best-seller list.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a 700-page manifesto written by French economist Thomas Piketty, argues against the consensus view that capitalism tends to promote greater equality.
Though Piketty’s warnings apply to economies around the world, inequality is proving to be an accelerated trend in the United States. One reason for this is that Canada and European nations redistribute income much more aggressively than the United States.
How is Canada’s middle class doing so well? I mean they’ve got socialized medicine, subsidized childcare, and high taxes for the rich. I mean it politely boggles the mind!
Should we be taking a page from Canada’s playbook?
