The United States has long prided itself as being a international superpower, and as a result, celebrating all the things that come with that heading. Which is namely, being clever to claim you’re the most excellent at most things?
But it looks like Canada can now boldly say it is lastly better than the U.S. at one thing i.e. economic management.
The LA Times ran a part on why Canada’s economy is challenging the nearly ever-present trends of economic depression troubling the developed world. And it gives details why the U.S. is still stressed to get better from the global downturn while Canada has approximately shrugged off its effects.
“We did many things right going into the financial crisis,” Glen Hodgson, senior vice president at the Conference Board of Canada, told.
It all happening in the 1990s, when Canada could have simply been a contemporary member of Europe’s “PIIGS” — an short form referring to Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, countries with bloated debts and sputtering economies. Canada too had a bloated liability in the early ‘90s. It also faced credit rating cuts across the board, and saw borrowing costs spike as a result.
But that’s not the only thing Canada has done improved than the U.S. The Times for example points out that Canada’s banks were heralded as beacons of constancy after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the launch of the credit crisis in 2008. Banks here are comparatively traditional compared to their American counterparts — exposure to sub-prime loans was low and home equity lines, which contributed to the credit crisis in the U.S., are recent offerings in Canada.
Another interesting facet of Canada’s economic achievement is attributed to the treatment of immigration. The Times says that while Canada admits 60% of its immigrants as “economic immigrants” — that is skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors — only one in seven such immigrants to the U.S. match those criteria.
And that might not change anytime soon. Because illegal immigration is such a leading topic in the U.S., making changes to the country’s immigration system tend to take a back seat in policy conversation. That means Washington will likely carry on highlighting bringing in family members of present immigrants over targeting highly-skilled workers. Which is simply counter-intuitive, since such people are so vital to today’s knowledge-based economy.
So will the U.S. wake and adopt Canada’s best practices? Even though all of the above issues have been discussed (and expansively debated) in Congress, it seems improbable. The immigration issue doesn’t look like it will be tackled anytime soon, considering Arizona’s new immigrant law has pushed illegal immigration to the front position now more than ever before. in the meantime, severity measures haven’t gained much traction in the U.S., and banking reform faces significant opposition in Congress.
Whatever the U.S. ends up doing, one thing is for certain: when it comes to financial management, Canada reigns supreme. And that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.
