Similar ratio? The sheer numbers of people living in the United States make that impossible. If the entire city of Calgary up and moved to New York tomorrow, they wouldn't make a dent. There's thirty times more people living there than in Calgary.
If you want to engage in intelligent debate, I'm more than ready. Please don't throw out numbers from somewhere I've never heard of. Leave useless stats out and make a counter point to the argument I've made - that the United States of America is a better country to live in than Canada primarily because of climate and opportunity for the average person.
The average person would prefer to live in a place with a moderate climate rather than a harshly cold one.
Tucker Carlson makes the same point - most Canadians with some degree of ambition move to the United States if they are able.
I must be dense. I have no idea how these two points are related.
I hate the cold. I'd love to move to a warmer climate. But I also know that I won't make near the money down there that I can here. So I stay. So I'm not ambitious? I don't get it. Maybe you can explain it to this dense Canadian.
Similar ratio? The sheer numbers of people living in the United States make that impossible. If the entire city of Calgary up and moved to New York tomorrow, they wouldn't make a dent. There's thirty times more people living there than in Calgary.
If you want to engage in intelligent debate, I'm more than ready. Please don't throw out numbers from somewhere I've never heard of. Leave useless stats out and make a counter point to the argument I've made - that the United States of America is a better country to live in than Canada primarily because of climate and opportunity for the average person.
I already made a counter point that peopel tend to go where the opportunity is. For some in Canada, that means the U.S. For some in the U.S., that means Canada. You certainly haven't proven anything, but just stated your own opinion.
You're telling me that I can't use numbers to prove anything, but what have you offered other than a list of people in show business?
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
"But I also know that I won't make near the money down there that I can here."
That might be true, but it's undeniable that the average American wage is higher than the average Canadian wage. Calgary is experiencing an economic boom unseen anywhere in North America for a long long time.
I woke up on May 28th of this year to a foot of snow in my driveway.
Leave useless stats out and make a counter point to the argument I've made - that the United States of America is a better country to live in than Canada primarily because of climate and opportunity for the average person.
Sorry, I haven't seen that point. Wayne Gretzky is not the average person. Neither is anyone else you've mentioned.
What Tucker says is true. American universities are harder to get into than Canadian ones because they are of a higher academic standard. I'm not trying to get anyone riled here, but what he says is true. Canada, for the most part, is a large, barren, cold wasteland. Save for timber in BC, oil in Alberta, and rich farmland among the St. Lawrence river, there's really not that much here. Many Americans can't point out Canada on a map, and why would they? Canada is about as relevant on the world stage as Laos, and how many average Canadians could pick that out on a map?
"But I also know that I won't make near the money down there that I can here."
That might be true, but it's undeniable that the average American wage is higher than the average Canadian wage.
Anyone can deny anything. Give me some numbers before you tell me it's undeniable. Besides, I don't care about wages. No one gets rich from their job. I've made far more from my investments in one year than my salary.
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Calgary is experiencing an economic boom unseen anywhere in North America for a long long time.
I don't know, Vancouver's real estate blew up at a pretty similar rate, if I recall correctly.
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I woke up on May 28th of this year to a foot of snow in my driveway.
Yeah, it sucks. I wish I could move somewhere nice, like Italy.
Well, good for you V, I wish I had that kind of asset management skill. The US is the richest country in the world, with an economy larger than any other, and by a wide margin, too. Surely if you're such a successful investor you already know this.
I do love this one line though:
"Besides, I don't care about wages. No one gets rich from their job."
That's pure flat out GOLD my man! Where did you learn to write comedy like that? I'd say that wages are a far better indicator of economic growth than housing prices.
What Tucker says is true. American universities are harder to get into than Canadian ones because they are of a higher academic standard.
Link please. And include all universities and colleges, not just the Ivy League. You asked for intelligent debate, yet you offer no evidence for any of your facts.
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I'm not trying to get anyone riled here, but what he says is true. Canada, for the most part, is a large, barren, cold wasteland. Save for timber in BC, oil in Alberta, and rich farmland among the St. Lawrence river, there's really not that much here. Many Americans can't point out Canada on a map, and why would they? Canada is about as relevant on the world stage as Laos, and how many average Canadians could pick that out on a map?
Really? Canada is mostly a barren, cold, wasteland? Do you know anything about geography? More than half of the population of Canada lives in the southern portion of the country which has a very comparable climate to the northern U.S. states. The climate doesn't change right at the border.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 11-03-2007 at 01:24 AM.
Pick any Canadian university and I'll easily name twenty American ones that are harder to get into. Easily, I mean without blinking. All the top universities outside of Europe are in the United States. You don't think this is true?
All the best of everything - bar hockey and apparently dog sledding - exists in the USA.
I think I'm going to leave this thread alone now. I think Tucker was right, Canadians sure are touchy when it comes to people saying the US is a better country!
Pick any Canadian university and I'll easily name twenty American ones that are harder to get into. Easily, I mean without blinking. All the top universities outside of Europe are in the United States. You don't think this is true?
All the best of everything - bar hockey and apparently dog sledding - exists in the USA.
OK, name 20 American universities that are harder to get into than McMaster. And please back up up your facts. I'm not going to just to take your word for it.
And it really depends on the program. A friend of mine with duel citizenship was turned down by the U of Manitoba and went to the University of Minnesota as a back-up.
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"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
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Originally Posted by Potatoe
The US is the richest country in the world, with an economy larger than any other, and by a wide margin, too.
Want to live in the country with the largest percentage of its population in prison - Go USA!
Want racial disharmony, whether black vs white, white vs latino, black vs asian, or whatever other flavour you prefer - Go USA!
Want to spend the rest of your life in debt because you had the misfortune to get really sick - Go USA!
Want to be live in a nation where 1 child is killed by guns every 3 hours - Go USA!
Want to be wilfully proud and stupid enough to think your #1 trading partner and one of the 15 biggest economies in the world is irrelevant? Go USA!
Here's a thought - successful people move to the USA because it is the one country in the world where the rich not only tell the poor to **** themselves, but are actually held up as moral exemplars for doing so. If you are rich, the USA is a blast - live in your gated community, pay immigrants peanuts to nanny your kids and mow your lawn, cash your stock options while the companies you own cut everything except executive salaries and perks, and generally act like nothing the rest of the world can do affects you because you are the big kid on the block.
One day the bulk of the American people are going to wake up and see the sham for what it is - that the whole system is about getting on top and fooling enough losers into thinking they are winners. If the American economy collapses - as it may well do when the Chinese decide they are tired of eating American debt and losing big money on it thru the huge devaluation of the dollar - then I devoutly hope it will at least have the positive effect of shocking them out of the dream they've been living in since WWII. They are the people with which we Canadians are most akin, and they are a great people, but their blind faith in their ignorant, corrupt and arrogant leaders will be their undoing unless they realize the golden days are over.
"Chinese decide they are tired of eating American debt and losing big money on it thru the huge devaluation of the dollar"
Why would they all of a sudden stop doing this? They're been eating trillions of dollars a year for the past decade. It wouldn't make any sense economically to shut off the US.
Face it, the Americans are the top dog in the world for a reason. It's the place where the cream of the crop go to live. I'm not denying that it doesn't have many many faults - crime, pollution, etc etc. On average I'd say that Canadians are better educated, but this doesn't mean that squat in the grand scheme of things. What Tucker Carlson often says is that Canada is like America's little brother who lives in the aparment above the store and keeps looking out the window wishing he was in on the party. It's true - all the top students in Canada wish to be educated in top US schools, because they are of a higher quality than anything in Canada. All the best jobs are in the USA. They have better weather. And they're not up at 2am on a Friday night worrying about what Canadian is saying about them on a message board.
I am sure glad you decided to continue this debate. I can not sleep and I am really enjoying this.
I wonder if Potatoe is going to come back. Maybe I will make a little poke...
Potatoe your comments here (bolded) seem to contradict. Although Calgary is in the west I would not consider it on the west coast. You by chance are not a Miss America Beauty Pageant Contestant? Surely you have seen a map of Canada at one of these elite schools you attended...
I am just saying..
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Originally Posted by Potatoe
I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I personally believe it's true. Bar the west coast, Canada is not what a normal person would consider a nice place to live, not because of high taxes, or good health care, or even low crime. It's not a nice place to live because it's too damn cold. Snow eight months of the year is not "nice".
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Originally Posted by Potatoe
And why wouldn't they? Calgary is a great place to live.
Very good, Boo Radley! If you have something intelligent to add, I'd love to hear it. I've lived in Vancouver before and I currently live in Calgary, so I'm well aware of the geography of this country.
" It's true - all the top students in Canada wish to be educated in top US schools, because they are of a higher quality than anything in Canada. All the best jobs are in the USA. They have better weather. And they're not up at 2am on a Friday night worrying about what Canadian is saying about them on a message board.
Hi Potatoe,
I would love to make a comment but really all that you have stated are personal beliefs and made outrageous comments with out backing them up. Curious how you would back up your bolded statement above.
I do agree that the US provides many great opportunities. In fact I will be taking up one of those in the near future. My sole reason for moving, the employer. Climate (your main point) never once factored in. You have yet to convince me that the US is a better country with this argument.
