Yay Canada!

Guess which country, alone in the industrialized world, has not faced a single bank failure, calls for bailouts or government intervention in the financial or mortgage sectors. Yup, it's Canada. In 2008, the World Economic Forum ranked Canada's banking system the healthiest in the world. America's ranked 40th, Britain's 44th...

Canada has also been shielded from the worst aspects of this crisis because its housing prices have not fluctuated as wildly as those in the United States. Home prices are down 25 percent in the United States, but only half as much in Canada. Why? Well, the Canadian tax code does not provide the massive incentive for overconsumption that the U.S. code does: interest on your mortgage isn't deductible up north... Ah, but you've heard American politicians wax eloquent on the need for these expensive programs—interest deductibility alone costs the federal government $100 billion a year—because they allow the average Joe to fulfill the American Dream of owning a home. Sixty-eight percent of Americans own their own homes. And the rate of Canadian homeownership? It's 68.4 percent.

Canada has been remarkably responsible over the past decade or so. It has had 12 years of budget surpluses, and can now spend money to fuel a recovery from a strong position. The government has restructured the national pension system, placing it on a firm fiscal footing, unlike our own insolvent Social Security. Its health-care system is cheaper than America's by far (accounting for 9.7 percent of GDP, versus 15.2 percent here), and yet does better on all major indexes. Life expectancy in Canada is 81 years, versus 78 in the United States; "healthy life expectancy" is 72 years, versus 69. American car companies have moved so many jobs to Canada to take advantage of lower health-care costs that since 2004, Ontario and not Michigan has been North America's largest car-producing region.

Crap. I want to go home, and I don't feel like walking to the train station. Thanks to the CTA bus tracker, I can see the bus I want to take has been just sitting there, miles away, for the last 10 or 15 minutes.

I might have to take some bus that doesn't have an online tracking thingie....

I will note that in Australia, interest on your home mortgage is likewise not tax deductible. We have also had a decade of budget surpluses, and indeed a sustained run of surpluses exceeding projections (selling resources to China's been a decent earner). We have also had a pretty well-regulated financial sector and no bank failures. However, we still had an over-inflated housing market - one of the highest appreciation rates in the world this decade.

All consumer debt interest used to be deductible. That was eliminated in the mid-80s and only the mortgage interest deduction remained. This is one reason home equity loans became so popular, you can use them to buy things instead of credit cards and still deduct the interest.

Is house flipping a thing out there, billytea? I imagine it's not common in cold Canada.

Is house flipping a thing out there, billytea? I imagine it's not common in cold Canada.

I don't think it's a big part of the market. Investment properties, conversely, did become hugely popular. (Interest is deductible on those, being an expense related to generating income.) Not sure where that now stands.

This is nice: the Vatican has stated that the theory of evolution is fully compatible with Christian faith, and rejected 'intelligent design' as acceptable science or theology. [link]

(Interest is deductible on those, being an expense related to generating income.)

That is apparently what started our crazy policy: [link]

It was never intended for individual households.

unlike our own insolvent Social Security.

Uhh not true. Social Security is one of the few financially sound things in the United States. Medicare is in trouble, exactly as much trouble as the rest of the U.S. healthcare system. By conservative estimates Social Security has enough in the trust fund to pay all scheduled benefits through 2049, and after that enough o pay more than current beneficiaries receive (in real inflation adjusted dollars). With modest adjustment, such as removing the cap on taxable wages it should be able to pay all scheduled benefits (including scheduled increases) indefinitely, not just through 2049. But even looking just through 2049, anyone on this board have savings or a private pension you are confident will be sound through 2049, and will pay quite decent benefits after that?

The reason I take off on that is that the idea that social security is "insolvent" is part of a propaganda campaign to cut social security. A lot well intentioned people pick that up, but it is still nonsense.

Timelies all!

They put a new fire alarm system in at work. This would be fine, except that they're testing it frequently during work hours. (Alarm plus flashing lights plus repeating announcements makes it hard to focus on work)