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Congratulations Canada - A New Record!
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| DigiNut |
It's official, Canadians are the working poor. Either that or we can't keep a budget. Probably both.
The Personal Savings rate according to StatsCan at the end of the third quarter of 2004 was zero. Yes, zero. Zilch. Nil. Nada. Diddley squat. A big fat honking nothing.
That means the average Canadian spends every dollar he earns and is just a whisker shy of being in debt. Or, put another way, there are as many Canadians in debt as there are who have money put away. This is the lowest figure we've seen since 1936.
Don't fret folks, our economy is doing great! ;)
Sources:
Statscan: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/indi02a.htm (last item in 1st table)
Related article: NP: Economic Growth Slows Down |
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| TrueToTheCrew |
Wow, that sucks.
Maybe because of low interest rates people are aquiring assets or improving the value of their assests by reinvesting.
I find that hard to believe though. The first thing i did was create a "contingency" fund where, under no circumstances am i able to touch unless something really catastrophic. |
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| Crazy Serb |
| Nah... it's all the stupid taxes and inability to keep a budget. Or even better, people spending money like there's no tomorrow! Lining up at stores for Boxing Day at 3am just to save 10-15% (but shell out hundreds of dollars nevertheless)?!!! Only on this continent... |
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| rabbitjoker |
| Don't forget - the Federal Gov't rapes us with EI premiums, even though the EI account is over-funded by 10s of billions of dollars. |
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| Crazy Serb |
| ^^^ sometimes I wonder is there anything that gov't DOESN'T rape us with? |
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| Spam |
| What does a Canadian's inability to restrain their spending and save any money have to do with how well our economy is doing? And that's not meant as a rhetorical jackass question, I honestly want the connection explained to me. All I know is that when we buy things, the economy is doing well... and when we don't it sucks... I'd say this shows how hard it is to save thanks to over-taxation more than how well our economy is doing... |
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| malek |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
Don't forget - the Federal Gov't rapes us with EI premiums, even though the EI account is over-funded by 10s of billions of dollars. |
the EI premiums will be lowered, a few bucks more on our paychecks :D
... time to call the BMW dealer. heheheh |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Spam
What does a Canadian's inability to restrain their spending and save any money have to do with how well our economy is doing? And that's not meant as a rhetorical jackass question, I honestly want the connection explained to me. All I know is that when we buy things, the economy is doing well... and when we don't it sucks... I'd say this shows how hard it is to save thanks to over-taxation more than how well our economy is doing... |
It's all a rich tapestry I suppose. Overtaxation, loss of exports, rising unemployment, and the general inability to keep a budget (perhaps they should teach personal finance in high school?). It's not *just* the inability to restrain spending - you have to look at it from a broader viewpoint, which is to say that the cost of living in Canada seems to exceed many people's incomes. That puts the economy out of equilibrium.
Even if you were to go out on a limb and say that the sole reason for this stat is poor budgeting, doesn't it follow that consumers going into debt is eventually going to be incredibly bad for the Canadian economy? If consumers are in debt, where will corporate profits come from in the upcoming quarters?
TrueToTheCrew: It could be because of low interest rates, but for whatever reason this seems to be the deciding factor the banks are using *not* to hike interest rates. Don't forget, low interest rates are good for the business sector, and that is part of the problem (too much borrowing in the consumer sector, too little in the manufacturing). |
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| Spam |
The economy at the moment is doing "fine". We're running a surplus and people are generally happy with the way things are. The average voter thinks about 2 things when assessing a current government.
A) Do I have a job?
B) Do I still have a job?
Great! Vote them back in! |
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| rabbitjoker |
| ^^^^--- god I hope not. |
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| tw1tch |
| Self employment, screw EI! :p |
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| Spam |
| quote: | Originally posted by rabbitjoker
^^^^--- god I hope not. |
I forgot...
C) Who's taller
D) Who's better looking
E) Who is my wife/husband voting for
F) Who's easier to understand
I'm talking about the AVERAGE voter here... not the informed voter. People as a whole... are pretty stupid. And that's the problem with democracy... how can you elect a responsible government when the people electing it can't be responsible themselves? Winston Churchill said it I think?
"Democracy is a horrible system... but it's the best one we've got"?
Truth hurts. |
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