How Canada stole the American Dream
Chagrin @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:03 am
Pseudonym Pseudonym:
I don't like articles that set Canada and the USA up as rivals. I mean, its nice to have a degree of competitiveness, but often it seems as though such comparisons become mean-spirited. Can't we all just get along and save bragging right for the Olympics or something? 
I approve of this post.
We're freaking neighbors for Christ's sake, we should be getting along and stop hating eachother.
bootlegga @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:24 am
herbie herbie:
$1:
As an example, look back at the car market. When the dollar reached parity, cars were still much more expensive, even though many were made here.
Part of that's our own fault as consumers. We were still buying the damn things at those prices.
All businesses charge what the market will bear.
My personal gripe is at book sellers, a year after the nationwide gripe that the Canadian price was 25-30% higher than the US price, even when our dollar was a much as 10% more, it's still unsettled.
The sellers simply removed the US price, trying to fool you into believing Americans paid $12.99 - $13.99 for a pocketbook. Others dropped the margin to only $2-$3 extra for Canadians. A year after all the row, many of those 25-30% off marked prices signs are no longer on the book racks. That's disgusting.
I have to agree with the comment on books.
My way around it is to get them from the library. Sure, I may have to wait a month or two, but I get the book, read it and it costs me $12 a year. If I only read one book (and I don't - I read about 1 book a week), my library card pays for itself. And with the EPL loaning DVDs, I can watch movies for free too.
Dealing with cars? Buy a car that was a lease return (after one year). Let someone else take the hit for the difference in dollar value/depreciation.
BTW, awesome avatar!
Arctic_Menace @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:55 pm
Chagrin Chagrin:
Pseudonym Pseudonym:
I don't like articles that set Canada and the USA up as rivals. I mean, its nice to have a degree of competitiveness, but often it seems as though such comparisons become mean-spirited. Can't we all just get along and save bragging right for the Olympics or something?
I approve of this post.
We're freaking neighbors for Christ's sake, we should be getting along and stop hating eachother.
Tell that to Europe...
herbie @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:17 pm
Stop using the hate thing, no Canadian actually hates Americans. We're really like them, but distinctly different at the same time.
How do you explain things like you can own beachfront but not the actual beach, all the land around a lake, but the 'trespassers' should say Close The Gate If Your Going To Fish...
When we shake our heads and go "Oh those goddam Americans!" (and we all do) it doesn't mean we hate Joe Smith, assembly-man at the Ford plant in Dearborn. It's some dumb move by their gov't, or some action we see as an icon of their distinctness from us.
Just like when I say "Oh those goddam Tories!", I don't mean I hate my fucking Dad.....
I can never understand how some people are, I come from Italian background and it was common to all drink liquer after dinner and argue politics. We'd scream and wave our hands and call each other stupid NDP and goddam Tories, then laugh about it, have one last one and toast the best country on Earth, and make plans for who hosted the next get-together.
The ex was Scot background, mention politics from dinner and they'd start beating each other to a pulp and not speak again for years!
That's one way we stole the American dream, another's the way most of recognize that a 'melting pot' only make a pretty bland stew. And anyone can travel 150km North from where they live and see frontier, we've stolen that too. A whole wide open empty place you can go and actually build our country.
Arctic_Menace @ Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:36 pm
herbie herbie:
Stop using the hate thing, no Canadian actually hates Americans. We're really like them, but distinctly different at the same time.
How do you explain things like you can own beachfront but not the actual beach, all the land around a lake, but the 'trespassers' should say Close The Gate If Your Going To Fish...
When we shake our heads and go "Oh those goddam Americans!" (and we all do) it doesn't mean we hate Joe Smith, assembly-man at the Ford plant in Dearborn. It's some dumb move by their gov't, or some action we see as an icon of their distinctness from us.
Just like when I say "Oh those goddam Tories!", I don't mean I hate my fucking Dad.....
I can never understand how some people are, I come from Italian background and it was common to all drink liquer after dinner and argue politics. We'd scream and wave our hands and call each other stupid NDP and goddam Tories, then laugh about it, have one last one and toast the best country on Earth, and make plans for who hosted the next get-together.
The ex was Scot background, mention politics from dinner and they'd start beating each other to a pulp and not speak again for years!
That's one way we stole the American dream, another's the way most of recognize that a 'melting pot' only make a pretty bland stew. And anyone can travel 150km North from where they live and see frontier, we've stolen that too. A whole wide open empty place you can go and actually build our country.
How do you explain things like you can own beachfront but not the actual beach, all the land around a lake, but the 'trespassers' should say Close The Gate If Your Going To Fish...
When we shake our heads and go "Oh those goddam Americans!" (and we all do) it doesn't mean we hate Joe Smith, assembly-man at the Ford plant in Dearborn. It's some dumb move by their gov't, or some action we see as an icon of their distinctness from us.
Just like when I say "Oh those goddam Tories!", I don't mean I hate my fucking Dad.....
I can never understand how some people are, I come from Italian background and it was common to all drink liquer after dinner and argue politics. We'd scream and wave our hands and call each other stupid NDP and goddam Tories, then laugh about it, have one last one and toast the best country on Earth, and make plans for who hosted the next get-together.
The ex was Scot background, mention politics from dinner and they'd start beating each other to a pulp and not speak again for years!
That's one way we stole the American dream, another's the way most of recognize that a 'melting pot' only make a pretty bland stew. And anyone can travel 150km North from where they live and see frontier, we've stolen that too. A whole wide open empty place you can go and actually build our country.
Chagrin @ Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:06 am
Arctic_Menace Arctic_Menace:
Chagrin Chagrin:
Pseudonym Pseudonym:
I don't like articles that set Canada and the USA up as rivals. I mean, its nice to have a degree of competitiveness, but often it seems as though such comparisons become mean-spirited. Can't we all just get along and save bragging right for the Olympics or something?
I approve of this post.
We're freaking neighbors for Christ's sake, we should be getting along and stop hating eachother.
Tell that to Europe...
Well, they aren't really as close as we are.
Individualist @ Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:35 am
ManifestDestiny ManifestDestiny:
$1:
MICHAEL COREN
At its most repugnant, however, it is publicly funded mediocrities screaming abuse at a great and noble nation because their own self-esteem is so fragile. With a malodorous stew of ignorance and malice, they pump Canada at the expense of deflating the United States.
At its most repugnant, however, it is publicly funded mediocrities screaming abuse at a great and noble nation because their own self-esteem is so fragile. With a malodorous stew of ignorance and malice, they pump Canada at the expense of deflating the United States.
Obviously Mr. Coren's been reading Heather Mallick's column on the CBC website. A publicly funded mediocrity indeed.
Individualist @ Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:51 am
bootlegga bootlegga:
People are free to say what they want, but Canadians have spent far too long shaping Canada for us to let a few wannabe Yanks change it into another US state.
Plenty of others have been frustrated that we're not the US, with its low taxes and high infant mortality and that's fine. Instead of changing what we have, they can do something far less painful and move to where it exists already. I'm honestly of the opinion that those who move to the US/UK/wherever make Canada a better place, as we have fewer people bitching and moaning.
Would you also suggest that anyone who thinks Canada isn't left-wing enough pack their bags and move to North Korea or Cuba? I definitely believe such an exodus would be beneficial to this country. Bye bye Judy and Svend!
Individualist @ Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:37 am
herbie herbie:
Stop using the hate thing, no Canadian actually hates Americans. We're really like them, but distinctly different at the same time.
I believe Freud referred to this phenomenon as the "narcissism of small differences".
herbie herbie:
When we shake our heads and go "Oh those goddam Americans!" (and we all do) it doesn't mean we hate Joe Smith, assembly-man at the Ford plant in Dearborn. It's some dumb move by their gov't, or some action we see as an icon of their distinctness from us.
I know some people who would pass judgement on Joe Smith based solely on his nationality.
herbie herbie:
Just like when I say "Oh those goddam Tories!", I don't mean I hate my fucking Dad.....
Why did so many Canadians get bent out of shape then when Pat Buchanan referred to our country as "Soviet Canuckistan". Surely he wasn't targeting individual Canadians, eh?
herbie herbie:
That's one way we stole the American dream, another's the way most of recognize that a 'melting pot' only make a pretty bland stew.
Yes, admittedly it is more lively when people can come here and bring their ethnic rivalries/wars and homeland allegiances with them. Of course, it makes it harder to create a sense of shared history and purpose, but I guess one way to do that artificially is to create a strawman enemy (perhaps a neighbouring country) and start bashing them and pelting them with smug lectures. Nothing better than a common enemy to create a sense of unity, after all.
Individualist @ Sat Aug 02, 2008 11:52 am
bootlegga bootlegga:
He's entitled to his opinion. Canada was built on the group, not the individual.
What exactly does that mean? Were individual rights and freedoms not recognized and protected under British Common Law and then the Bill of Rights and later the Charter? Despite the Charter being introduced by the most collectivist PM Canada has ever had (and hopefully will ever have), the document (despite the lamentable omission of property rights) pretty much establishes the free individual as an key element in Canadian society.
bootlegga bootlegga:
Personally, I'm surprised he can stand living in Toronto. Based on his article, he must consider it akin to life in hell...
I can't speak for Coren, but I know I would.
bootlegga bootlegga:
If he doesn't like the rest of us Commies, then he can feel free to join his 'free' brethren south of the border.
That is based on the assumption that the "Commies" have some kind of monopoly of Canadian identity and values - that one cannot be a true Canadian without also being a social democrat. That is the height of arrogance.