The USA sucks thread devolved so I thought I'd start a thread where we can look at the real differences between the United States and its closest neighbor.
I found this Wikipedia article quite informative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canadian_and_American_economies
It appears that on the gross economic level Canada and the USA are very similar:
-- government spending is about 40% of both economies
-- taxation rates are similar
-- median income is almost identical
Thus it appears to me that the biggest differences between the two countries are cultural not economic. Having lived rough half of my life in each its been my experience that Canadians are much less religious, have much greater faith in their government (even when idiots like Steven Harper or Ralph Klein get elected). Also, Canadians do not share the anti-urban anti-intellectual attitudes of many Americans.
I found this Wikipedia article quite informative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Canadian_and_American_economies
It appears that on the gross economic level Canada and the USA are very similar:
-- government spending is about 40% of both economies
-- taxation rates are similar
-- median income is almost identical
Thus it appears to me that the biggest differences between the two countries are cultural not economic. Having lived rough half of my life in each its been my experience that Canadians are much less religious, have much greater faith in their government (even when idiots like Steven Harper or Ralph Klein get elected). Also, Canadians do not share the anti-urban anti-intellectual attitudes of many Americans.
