Possibly... The Great Right North (Fiscally)?

[ISYairio]

Interesting, look at these trends for Canada: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/pages/canada/index.html

Perhaps we have something to learn from those "socialists" to the north.

What say you? ??? Should this give us hope? ???

:shifty:

[ISYairio]

No Canadians have anything to say? :razz:

:(

[superjames1992]

Interesting.

From what I remember, Canada's "stimulus plan" actually looked like it would work as it had a lot to do with tax cuts and incentives and wasn't a big spending plan like ours. And it didn't nationalize anything, either.

[rckirby]

So, they have 'socialized' healthcare.....where you have to wait months for a treatment/surgery. I guess that could slash the costs, right?

Is this what we really want??????????????

Some may think so.....but not when it comes to THEIR health.

[mitgrad]

No Canadians have anything to say? :razz:

:(

As a Canadian, I am very proud that we are very fiscally responsible. We have low debt per capita and GDP, we got rid of deficit spending more than a decade ago and even produced several years of budget surpluses that were reinvested into paying down our national debt and into our national pension plan(which happens to be solvent right now).

We are the only industrial country in the world that had no bank failures in this recession, and we didn't have to bail any of them out. In fact, all the major banks even made a profit in 2008. They are more regulated, however. Make no mistake, this recession is hurting us too and unemployment is still rising, but we will emerge in pretty good shape with plenty of bargains out there to shore the economy back up again. I feel optimistic.

We are generally taxed higher, but we generally don't have the expectation that government services are free, and we shun borrowing from foreigners. We basically pay as we go. I'd rather pay today for services rendered than borrow for it and have my grandchildren service that debt for years to come. But our wages are higher and our taxes benefit us more directly, rather than thrown into foreign countries.

Our national health care has been constantly improving since its inception. We have risen to the top 10 in world for life expectancy, significantly higher than the US. I personally wouldn't want to get rid of our national health care, especially considering the gains we are making, and because I believe it's in our best interest to have a healthy society. I would personally find it unconscionable to deny health care to any of our citizens simply because they cannot afford to pay for it out of pocket. But that's just me.