Really makes you wonder, if the public could be as compelled by anything non-security related, what insane problems and projects we could take on with $8T USD.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/child-poverty-increases-sh...
> In 2021, as the economy reeled from the pandemic, a one-year expansion of the child tax credit led to a historic 46 percent decline in the child poverty rate. But new census data shows a dramatic reversal with the rate of children in poverty skyrocketing in 2022. Experts say it’s due to the end of pandemic-era safety net policies and inflation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/us/politics/child-tax-cre... cites the cost of that expansion as $100B.
State provided insurance coverage was expanded but that expansion is ending over the next year, however 20 years after 9/11 the military and intelligence apparatus put in place is still intact.
I'm not saying our system is perfect either; we need to get prices under control and incentivize actual competition in the healthcare industry.
Consider the number of nursing strikes recently and it's clear that the system is getting much worse.
Edit0: As I thought, nothing really
Canadians are deeply in debt. Mostly mortgages. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-hou...
Causing: house prices and rent to be unaffordable for the median income person. As a result, I have several friends who are exploring leaving the country. Especially if you have children, they will likely never be able to afford a home nearby themselves without help. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/world/canada/canada-real-... https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rentals-august-1.6963839
Inflation isn't stopping. It's most commonly reflected in the grocery prices. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/world/canada/loblaws-groc...
As a result of the above, and the fact that if the Bank of Canada did not keep the prime rate in line with the USA (we have pretty much always raised our prime rates in step with the USA) = huge cuts into the disposable income / lifestyle of Canadians. Some people say we are already in a per capita recession. https://www.movesmartly.com/articles/why-the-bank-of-canada-... https://betterdwelling.com/canadian-households-get-left-behi...
To compound this problem, as our working population ages, in order to keep our age dependency ratio healthy, we are allowing a million+ immigrants a year in. Please don't flame me, I don't have an opinion, this is a fact and a choice, and it has consequences. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpa...
Trudeau is many things, but a person who has ever needed to worry about money isn't one of them. Both Canada and Ontario (the most populous province) are deeply in debt. Alberta, who's oil wealth largely makes this country function, are making noises about separation, especially about their portion of the CPP, the Canadian Pension Plan that covers all Canadians. Alberta is kind of Canada's Texas (Conservative + oil wealthy) but they have far less influence in Federal politics than Texas does. AFAIK, I might be wrong about that. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canada-inte... https://www.moneysense.ca/save/retirement/pensions/alberta-p...
All of these are leading towards a housing and / or financial crisis and / or currency crisis. Whichever comes first. There are tent cities and homeless in most large urban areas, and, as this is Canada, this winter will be brutal. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-...
Smaller problem: we have socialized medicine, but you likely can't get a doctor. Good luck getting a referral. We are exploring private practice charging fees. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/05/world/canada/canada-famil... https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/would-you-pay-300-a-year-for-q...
I know that the general opinion of Canada is that nothing ever happens, and to an extent that was largely true. I believe the next few years will be very difficult for Canadians, and, incredibly, given that Canadians use more energy per capita than the Americans, it will be a difficult transition to a lower energy use profile.
Being Canadian I am aware of these things, but I do feel like a frog in a pot - it didn't seem that critical. I agree with you about the next few years being very difficult. I'm in Quebec (woohoo hydro) and am ressourceful enough not to be worried for myself, but it won't be easy for most.
I was not aware of the separatist rumblings in the west, I'll look it up.
The UK is not too hot either, third party private insurance is growing to make up for the NHS shortcomings
What's stopping the US from solving these incredible social, scientific etc problems isn't money. It's the will of the people in particular politicians. Many of whom are themselves taking money by people and companies who benefit from these problems being unsolved.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals.
It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.