Nah, not everything's fine, lots of things need improving, but the point in question was just poorly presented using inappropriate data. Straight GDP per capital has the issues I pointed out and more. It can't be used to honestly and reliably compare the standards of living of normal people; it treats it as if all economic activity is getting roughly equally distributed toactual people to fund their standards of living. We know lots isn't. It didn't even correct for purchasing power parity, never mind income inequality... It was just a bad measure for the claim made. The HDI data posted is closer to the mark, but to really compare' 'standards of living', it would take some work to figure out what economic and social variables add up to define that. Straight GDP per capita, while an attractive measure to the Fraser Institute, ain't it.
I'd suggest the 'mega deduction' to immediately expense capital costs the year new equipment/infrastructure investments become available for use is a really good example of such a policy, should it come to pass. I suspect we'll see that as part of the budget bill, probably in the first half of November. That one would help in that it would be a 'right away' benefit to businesses, and would let them free up more capital for major investments in equipment, property etc. It doesn't depend on some major project being developed and eventually approved, just whatever new machinery XYZ corporation is right away ready to buy.
Tick, tick, tick, tick.....
Americans’ debt problems are flashing a warning not seen since the Great Recession
Researchers found that while wealth disparities narrowed somewhat, the ability to meet debt payments deteriorated significantly.
www.cnbc.com
For the three-year period ended 2025, the
portion of families behind on loan payments
soared from about 12% in the prior survey to nearly 20%, according to a Fed survey released Friday.
Higher earners saw their net worth soar during the period, with those in the top income group
reporting an increase of 31%.
A widening of the gulf between the 'haves' and the 'have nots'. Sadly I'm fairly confident that this widening more than likely occurred here in Canada as well. The gulf between the countries may not be as wide or as deep but does it really matter? If a gulf exists and your not able to bridge it the size of the gulf is secondary.
The ability of U.S. families to stay current on their debts worsened over the past three years, hitting levels not seen since the aftermath of the global financial crisis, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.
According to the new findings, the portion of families behind on loan payments at the end of 2025 soared from about 12% in the prior survey to nearly 20%, a gain of some 67%. Those behind by two months or more also accelerated considerably, moving to more than 8% from 5% in 2022.
Friday’s Fed report showed the share of debt to income also posted a large gain. Families with payment-to-income ratios of greater than 40% jumped to 8.6%, up from 6.5% in 2022 and the highest level since 2013.
At the same time, the net worth of higher earners soared, with those in the top income group seeing their median net worth rise 31%.
Amid that climate, the Fed found that real median, or midpoint, family income increased 7% but average income dropped 6%.
“Families in the lower ends of the income and net worth distributions saw modest increases in median and mean income, while families in the upper ends saw declines,” the report stated. “These patterns indicate that income inequality decreased slightly between surveys.”
“The exceptions to the general pattern of a rise in median income were for Black non-Hispanic families, Asian families, and families toward the top of the usual income and net worth distributions,” the report stated. “For these families, both median and mean income fell.”
Overall, net worth generally increased.
Inflation-adjusted
average net worth rose 7% to $1.24 million, though
median net worth climbed just 2% to $215,900, reflecting gains among those at the higher end. The report noted that net worth was “much slower” than the prior report that covered the 2019-22 period.
Lower-income families “saw some declines” in wealth while those with higher incomes saw gains. Families in the bottom one-fourth of income median net worth declined 6% while average net worth fell 4%.
nationalpost.com
www.ctvnews.ca
www150.statcan.gc.ca
