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I heard rumours that the US wants to join Canada as the eleventh province, is that right?

I am not sure this will be immediately agreed by Canadians (I am one), but I can see why the Americans would be interested.

One would expect the new province to experience a general convergence to Canadian norms over time, so the median American household's wealth would almost double - more at purchasing power parity. The maternal mortality rate would drop by about 62%, and the homicide rate by about 70%. Everybody would have health insurance, the aggregate health costs would halve, and life expectancy would rise by almost four years. The fraction of the population living in absolute poverty ($2.15/day in 2017 dollars at purchasing power parity) would drop by 83%. Elections would include a peaceful transfer of power.

I'm sure parliament will look upon the application with an open mind, on compassionate grounds.

Jim


Murder rates from Statista, maternal mortality from The Commonwealth Fund study, spending and life expectancy from Our World in Data, absolute poverty incidence from the World Bank via Wikipedia.

I heard rumours that the US wants to join Canada as the eleventh province, is that right?

The Magats would then have to "move elsewhere"--but WHERE ??? They want to GET WELFARE--but NOT PAY FOR IT. They are being cut off from US federal welfare right now. Look at Arkansas and Chucklebee Sanders. She wanted FEMA help--DENIED !! That is now a STATE, not federal, matter. OOPS !!! DIY has gotta hurt a LOT !!! They got what they voted for--good and HARD!!

Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Arkansas were all sent the same "go suck eggs" form letter on disaster relief. Federal disaster relief will be donation jars at gas station, right next to the Billy needs dialysis, Jeanie needs a transplant, and the Fredi needs chemo jars.

Look at the "bright" side. It is my humble oppinion that all of the chopping of costs (and pushing others onto the state backs) and pumping of tariffs is optimally to cause a ceasation of the federal income tax and support the country by means of the warped equivalent of a VAT promoted as a tariff (in the same way that a national ID card is being promoted as a "Real ID" drivers license).

As far as merging with Canada? I suspect while 85% of USians whould see no problem, 85% (being generous here) would avoid the idea at all costs - up to, and includung, changing which candidate they vote for to lead their country.

Jeff

The Magats would then have to "move elsewhere"--but WHERE ??? They want to GET WELFARE--but NOT PAY FOR IT. They are being cut off from US federal welfare right now. Look at Arkansas and Chucklebee Sanders. She wanted FEMA help--DENIED !! That is now a STATE, not federal, matter. OOPS !!! DIY has gotta hurt a LOT !!! They got what they voted for--good and HARD!!

There are some natural dividing lines. For example, I live in Washington State. Western Washington (think Seattle) is mostly super-liberal to that point of almost being socialist. We were the first state to legalize both gay marriage and recreational marijuana by vote of the people. Eastern Washington is MAGA like you can't believe.

So we could simply carve off everything from say, north of Olympia and west of the Cascades. We wouldn't even need a new province, we could just join BC. Eastern Washington could join Idaho or vice versa, which they want to do anyway.

One would expect the new province to experience a general convergence to Canadian norms over time, so the median American household's wealth would almost double - more at purchasing power parity. The maternal mortality rate would drop by about 62%, and the homicide rate by about 70%. Everybody would have health insurance, the aggregate health costs would halve, and life expectancy would rise by almost four years. The fraction of the population living in absolute poverty ($2.15/day in 2017 dollars at purchasing power parity) would drop by 83%. Elections would include a peaceful transfer of power.

Sounds like a glowing recommendation. But what I've picked up from your posts, you no longer live there. Why?

IP,
honestly interested

Sounds like a glowing recommendation. But what I've picked up from your posts, you no longer live there. Why?

Winters.

There's a longer explanation involving family health, but it amounts to the same thing.

Jim

Winters.

There's a longer explanation involving family health, but it amounts to the same thing.

Jim

LOL. I get that. We flee to Canada for the Summer. I would be thrilled to find a 3 season place to call home and only have to take off for one season.

IP,
looking to be a global resident for the next ten years

LOL. I get that. We flee to Canada for the Summer. I would be thrilled to find a 3 season place to call home and only have to take off for one season.

Oh, hey, most of Canada is mostly very nice three seasons a year! But that fourth one might be up to 8 months long depending on your definition and precise location : )
Vancouver is "London but a bit wetter", but Ottawa is "makes Oslo and Moscow look warm". Quebec City is more "shovel or get buried".

Jim

Ottawa is "makes Oslo and Moscow look warm"

In Winter 1996, we had some Russians from Moscow working at the ISP (here in the metro TC area in MN). They were complaining how cold it was in MN.

Winters.

True, our winters last about 6 months... The good news is with global warming, it's getting closer to 5 months now!

True, our winters last about 6 months... The good news is with global warming, it's getting closer to 5 months now!

I have often wondered about this. Canada should be a pro global warming right?

Canada should be a pro global warming right?

Only if they wanted all the US parasites from the right to move there--AFTER it warmed up.

Speaking of fraught relationships north and south of the 49th parallel...

I am visiting Canada at the moment and popped into a liquor store. In Ontario this means the LCBO, Liquor Control Board of Ontario. This might sound obscure, but it's not: they are the monopoly importer and buyer of all alcoholic beverages for over 16 million people, so they are the largest single buyer of booze in the world. Virtually all producers of any size anywhere in the world have a special production run for the LCBO as they have traditionally (and unreasonably) required that their six-digit stock number be pre-printed on labels. Not sure if that's still true, I hope not.

Now, some Canadians and Canadian politicians were not very keen on the idea of being involuntarily annexed by a neighbouring country, so I had heard that the LCBO took all US alcohol off the shelves a while back on the orders of the provincial government. But to see it in person was quite interesting. Rather than the bare shelves (perhaps with tiny Canadian flags) that I had expected, the US wines section is simply gone. The section signs are gone, and the stock has been rearranged, and new shelves and coolers are in that place that are fitted and match the rest of the place seamlessly. It's as if the US had never existed. Everybody going about their business, nobody commenting, just the new normal.

That's all simple to say, but it was almost science-fictionish to see it in person. Reminds me of the book "Finity" by John Barnes, wherein the US and pretty much all memory of it vanishes. (off topic, but an excellent book).

Most of my friends are foregoing US products, and one of them mentioned that when they stopped and thought about it, there wasn't actually any American consumer product that they really wanted. The US strengths and resilience are more in the hidden things without branding, like turbines. This has investing implications.

Jim

IIRC, the same thing was done in Quebec at the beginning of March. I think products from the USA were replaced with local ones.

That's an interesting story and I can see how easily it could be done with physical goods. I don't think I consume any US goods either - currently I live in Europe - and if I did they could be easily substituted for. However what about digital services and software, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Visa, Mastercard etc? My Iphone may be manufactured in China but it's designed and coded in California. My debit cards may be from European banks but still use Visa. It's a bit more complicated than taking a few bottles off the shelves.

"It's as if the US had never existed. Everybody going about their business, nobody commenting, just the new normal."

Just curious, how do the Canadian citizens that you know feel about Americans visiting
their Country ?

I live in Michigan, the north shore of Lake Superior is an incredible area that I'd like
to visit again. I am hesitant to do so, I think there would be some hard feelings
toward Americans, and I can't say I blame them for having them. And they would not know
that I despise Trump as much or more as they probably do. So having my truck parked at
a trailhead, with Michigan license plate showing, might not be a great idea.

Just curious, how do the Canadian citizens that you know feel about Americans visiting their Country ?

Fine. I don't know of any displays of personal animosity, and heck, tourism is good for the balance of trade. It's not like the undiscriminating cold welcome that Russians are getting in a lot of places in Europe, say. Which is unfair, but human.

It's possible that an exception might be someone with a Maga hat or expressing similar sentiments : )

So having my truck parked at a trailhead, with Michigan license plate showing, might not be a great idea.

You'd be fine. Again, depending on what the bumper stickers say!

Obviously Canada, like anywhere, has a small fraction of unpredictable people, but I wouldn't worry about it. Mostly, anyway: I wouldn't want to be near the motorcade if Mr Trump passed through. That would be true anywhere.

Jim

people confuse 'better' with plethora of choice.
alcohol, cars,beauty, anything surviving on tons of marketing is the latter.
even the vast majority of the digital world can, and does, lives outside apple's walls, and quite happily.

the pressure a concerted consumer population can exert dwarfs the minor sacrifice.
but other than tesla, how do you boycott the gop within america?

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