http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-Signs-That-Youve-Made-It-To-investopedia-424 3472351.html?x=0
This one is really interesting if one looks at the 6 signs and for example, compares them Canada/US. # Home Ownership--probably no difference Canada/US # Automobile Ownership--probably no difference Canada/US although my car insurance in NYC about six years ago was 3 1/2 times what I'm paying now in Vancouver (publicly owned car insurance # A College Education for the Kids--major difference Canada/US--in Canada combination of relatively low tuition, less pressure to leave home for first degree and much less of a difference between the market value of the top universities and the bulk of the universities means that a reasonably university education is accessible to a much larger proportion of the population # Retirement Security--probably no difference Canada/US # Health Care Coverage--major difference Canada/US--my health care costs me $1200 for the year for myself and wife compared to $5500 (in 2006) for self and wife and wife now likely uninsurable because of a chronic illness # Family Vacation--probably some difference Canada/US because of general accessability of relatively pristine and inexpensive vacation spots for most Canadians So on 2 of these factors (and possibly the third) Canada and I would expect also Western Europe and Aus give its citizens a major leg-up towards the middle class which I suspect has a lot of other consequences -- political, cultural etc. down the road. (I'm not absolutely positive but I believe that the European also manage their retirement and vacation processes rather better than either Canada or the US and that would mean at least 4 out of 6 for Europe.) So what else can/should one ask of a society/economy? M _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
