"Correct me if I'm wrong."Happy to.
wages for many trying to support a family are between $6.00 and $8.00 per hour.You'll be referring to minimum wages. And they are better in the US ... how? And the percentage of the workforce working for around the minimum wage is lower in the US than in Canada, is it?
Then there are unions (the things that get workers better wages and benefits):
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040831/d040831b.htmThe rate of unionization in the public sector remained stable at just over 70% during the last three decades, but the rate for the private sector fell from 26% to 18%. The stability in the public sector prevented the overall rate of unionization from falling below 30%.
In the US, the rate of unionization fell from 38% in 1977 to 18% in 1997:
http://www.iie.com/publications/chapters_preview/352/1iie3411.pdf They also have a lot of regulation, like cable TV, internet and things like that, with few choices so you can't price shopThis is reading like the redneck guide to the great white north. Yep, we buy all our underwear and internet services at the gummint store.
Regulation, like internet? I'm not getting it. I didn't notice much lack of choice when I selected my provider -- high speed, something Canada embraced, and the Cdn govt fostered, very early on. What choice don't I have for cable TV? Yup, there's a single cable provider for each market, but there are also satellite providers. In a small market (our population is 1/9 the population of the US), competition sometimes doesn't just reduce prices, it reduces choice. And I've got Fox News on free digital preview this month; what more could I want? And have you ever actually found out anything about what I get to see on that govt TV network of mine?
http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeyesunday/index.htmlhttp://www.cbc.ca/fifth/http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/specials.htmlhttp://www.cbc.ca/correspondent/See much of that stuff
anywhere on US TV? Damn that "regulation" stuff, eh?
As for the price of milk ... I don't pay much attention, I have to admit, but $5/gallon (or the equivalent for 4 litres, close to 10% more than 4 US
gallons <oops> quarts) doesn't seem far off. I have no idea how much milk
should cost, I guess. Our prices do relate to the need to maintain a healthy dairy industry. Again, rock-bottom prices don't necessarily benefit consumers in the long run.
They pay 15% sales taxYup, and that's regressive (hits the poor harder than the rich), and opposed by all Canadian progressives. We still pay less for more, overall, when it comes to what we get for our loonie.
their wages are generally lowerAnd there's all sorts of interesting things to be said about that.
For one thing, the total income in the country is spread much more evenly among the population (although less so than in most European countries) -- and far less income is concentrated in the hands of the top 5 or 10% of the population the way it is (and increasingly is) in the US. Canada has neither the same poverty nor the same wealth as is seen in the US population. And we're really doing just fine.
(conversion error fixed!)