Are our Canadian neighbors living the American Dream?

By Jim Bloch, Voice Reporter

Canadians now are the real Americans – at least in terms of achieving the American Dream.

We can see Canada along most of the eastern border of St. Clair County, directly across the St. Clair River. In some places, such as Squirrel Island across the South Channel from Harsens Island’s San Souci Bar, it’s close enough to reach by a hearty swim.

To the extent we think about Canadians as we gaze across the blue water, we tend to think of them as our less well-off neighbors, our poorer cousins; a pleasant, beer-drinking, butter tart eating, hockey-loving people who pay exorbitant taxes for socialized medicine and a voracious welfare system. And, oh yeah, who is their president again? Or is it prime minister? Or queen?

It turns out that our image of Canadians is mightily flawed. To the extent the American Dream represents a goal, Canadians may have achieved it. For Americans, the Dream is more akin to an ever-receding carrot.

To begin with, for the first time ever, Canadians are individually richer than Americans.

“According to a study by Environics Analytics Wealthscapes, published by The Globe & Mail, average Canadian household net worth in 2011 was $363,202 – surpassing by $40,000 the $319,970 U.S. average,” said Investors.com, in a July18, 2012, story.

Household net worth equals the total of a household’s liquid and real assets, less its debts.

“The major reasons for Canada’s economic triumph over its neighbor to the south, it seems, are rooted in the 2008 recession that rocked the United States’ economy and collapsed its housing market,” said a Time magazine story on the same subject. “American house prices plunged, and now Canadian real estate holds more value.”

Investors.com argued Canada had exercised fiscal discipline when the U.S. had not: “Its federal debt is around 35 percent of GDP compared to the U.S. at 100 percent. The deficit is 2 percent of GDP, not 10 percent as (in the U.S.)”

Canada, which was not fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had budget surpluses and a falling debt when the Great Recession hit, allowing it to fare better than the U.S. (Continued)