Post by calabi-yau on Sept 11, 2004 11:36:24 GMT -5
Sorry about another Canadian piece (I just can't help it)
There were many articles this morning about the latest unemployment figures across Canada. This is one article I thought some of you may find interesting. It does state Canada is certainly not perfect in any way but it also warns Canadians not to slide into the American way as it's not all about jobs but about society as a whole and the communal sense of its members and citizens.
This is fairly new for Canadians. One generation ago, Canadians looked south for a better way of doing things. It now seems the table has been turned.
United States' best hope is to become more like us
Sep. 11, 2004. 01:00 AM
DAVID CRANE
There are strong pressures in Canada to become more like the United States — to adopt low tax rates and eliminate the tax system as an agent of redistribution, to reduce availability of social benefits and the role of unions, to be more "flexible" and accept greater inequality.
But I would argue the other way, that for its own future well-being, the United States' best hope is to become more like this country. This means, as well, that we in Canada have to develop a greater sense of pride in what we have accomplished and to resist pressures to dismantle our social system.
The United States is in danger of becoming a deeply divided and even dysfunctional society, with higher levels of functional illiteracy, much greater inequalityand much lower levels of social and workplace protection than in Canada.
This doesn't mean Canada has created a "perfect" society. Far from it. Canada still has many problems and we must do more to ensure opportunity for all. But Canada is closer to getting it right than the United States is.
One measure of this gap between our two countries is the recently published economic security index from the International Labour Organization. It showed Canada ranking 10th, the United States ranking 25th.
It is true that the United States has a lower unemployment rate than Canada and many other countries. But this is misleading. For starters, as the ILO noted, in the United States "many more of those likely to be unemployed are incarcerated, thereby excluded from the labour force. The incarceration rate is much higher in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country." Moreover, employment rates are actually higher in Canada and in many European countries than in the United States.
In health care, unemployment insurance, progressivity of the tax system, social supports, poverty reduction among the elderly, the role of unions, workplace standards, health and safety rules and other measures that contribute to economic security, Canada does better.
Health coverage is clearly one area where Canadians have done much better. Some 45 million Americans have no health insurance at all, while the percentage of private sector employees with a company health plan has dropped from more than 60 per cent in 1993 to just over 45 per cent last year.
Canadians should be proud of what has been accomplished through our public health-care system, even though it needs some fixing. It is cheaper than the U.S. system, and Canadians are healthier.
Insecurity is reflected in many ways, including drug use, alcoholism and family abuse. In 2002, according to the ILO, there were more than 1 million workers employed as security guards in the United States, another sign of insecurity.
Likewise, "the spread of gated communities is another symptom of a profound societal disquiet," it said. In the United States, "one in 10 of its population now chooses to live in gated communities, enjoying relative affluence but fearful that some of their comforts may be taken by their less-prosperous fellow citizens."
Moreover, the United States appears to be losing social solidarity and a sense of reciprocity. The ties of community are weakening and giving way to a more ruthless social order and an excessive individualism. Canada is being pulled in this direction as well, and it is important to resist it.
Growing inequality contributes to the breakdown of community. In the United States, the top 1 per cent of households hold about 40 per cent of all financial wealth, and the top 20 per cent holds 94 per cent, according to one U.S. study. Growing inequality in wealth is even more pronounced than growing income inequality.
There is another big division in U.S. society. The Los Angeles Daily News reported the other day that 53 per cent of workers in Los Angeles County were found to be functionally illiterate, meaning they could not write a note spelling out a billing problem, use a bus schedule or locate an intersection on a street map. How do you sustain a democratic or knowledge-based society with such high levels of functional illiteracy?
We have our share of problems in Canada but in terms of building a just society, we are ahead of the United States. We must sustain and strengthen what we have. The United States, for its own future well-being, should try to become more like us, not the other way round.
There were many articles this morning about the latest unemployment figures across Canada. This is one article I thought some of you may find interesting. It does state Canada is certainly not perfect in any way but it also warns Canadians not to slide into the American way as it's not all about jobs but about society as a whole and the communal sense of its members and citizens.
This is fairly new for Canadians. One generation ago, Canadians looked south for a better way of doing things. It now seems the table has been turned.
United States' best hope is to become more like us
Sep. 11, 2004. 01:00 AM
DAVID CRANE
There are strong pressures in Canada to become more like the United States — to adopt low tax rates and eliminate the tax system as an agent of redistribution, to reduce availability of social benefits and the role of unions, to be more "flexible" and accept greater inequality.
But I would argue the other way, that for its own future well-being, the United States' best hope is to become more like this country. This means, as well, that we in Canada have to develop a greater sense of pride in what we have accomplished and to resist pressures to dismantle our social system.
The United States is in danger of becoming a deeply divided and even dysfunctional society, with higher levels of functional illiteracy, much greater inequalityand much lower levels of social and workplace protection than in Canada.
This doesn't mean Canada has created a "perfect" society. Far from it. Canada still has many problems and we must do more to ensure opportunity for all. But Canada is closer to getting it right than the United States is.
One measure of this gap between our two countries is the recently published economic security index from the International Labour Organization. It showed Canada ranking 10th, the United States ranking 25th.
It is true that the United States has a lower unemployment rate than Canada and many other countries. But this is misleading. For starters, as the ILO noted, in the United States "many more of those likely to be unemployed are incarcerated, thereby excluded from the labour force. The incarceration rate is much higher in the U.S. than in any other industrialized country." Moreover, employment rates are actually higher in Canada and in many European countries than in the United States.
In health care, unemployment insurance, progressivity of the tax system, social supports, poverty reduction among the elderly, the role of unions, workplace standards, health and safety rules and other measures that contribute to economic security, Canada does better.
Health coverage is clearly one area where Canadians have done much better. Some 45 million Americans have no health insurance at all, while the percentage of private sector employees with a company health plan has dropped from more than 60 per cent in 1993 to just over 45 per cent last year.
Canadians should be proud of what has been accomplished through our public health-care system, even though it needs some fixing. It is cheaper than the U.S. system, and Canadians are healthier.
Insecurity is reflected in many ways, including drug use, alcoholism and family abuse. In 2002, according to the ILO, there were more than 1 million workers employed as security guards in the United States, another sign of insecurity.
Likewise, "the spread of gated communities is another symptom of a profound societal disquiet," it said. In the United States, "one in 10 of its population now chooses to live in gated communities, enjoying relative affluence but fearful that some of their comforts may be taken by their less-prosperous fellow citizens."
Moreover, the United States appears to be losing social solidarity and a sense of reciprocity. The ties of community are weakening and giving way to a more ruthless social order and an excessive individualism. Canada is being pulled in this direction as well, and it is important to resist it.
Growing inequality contributes to the breakdown of community. In the United States, the top 1 per cent of households hold about 40 per cent of all financial wealth, and the top 20 per cent holds 94 per cent, according to one U.S. study. Growing inequality in wealth is even more pronounced than growing income inequality.
There is another big division in U.S. society. The Los Angeles Daily News reported the other day that 53 per cent of workers in Los Angeles County were found to be functionally illiterate, meaning they could not write a note spelling out a billing problem, use a bus schedule or locate an intersection on a street map. How do you sustain a democratic or knowledge-based society with such high levels of functional illiteracy?
We have our share of problems in Canada but in terms of building a just society, we are ahead of the United States. We must sustain and strengthen what we have. The United States, for its own future well-being, should try to become more like us, not the other way round.