September 21, 2014
Josh Barro has an interesting article noting how conservatives in the U.S. appear to have a love affair with Canada, based on its tax cuts and promotion of fossil fuel production. Barro points out that a big part of Canada’s low-cost government is its single payer, or universal Medicare, system. According to the OECD, Canada spends 10.4 percent of its GDP on health care (mostly from the government) whereas the U.S. spends 16.2 percent of GDP (a bit more than half from the government). The difference would come to more than $1 trillion a year in the current U.S. economy.
The housing bubble is the other striking story of the Canadian economy. The ratio of house prices to rent has more than doubled since the turn of the century. When this bubble bursts, Canada is not likely to look very pretty.
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