Thursday, July 19, 2012

Coyne versus Kay on Canadian superiority

Jonathan Kay writes that Canadians having a net worth $40,000 higher than Americans spells bad news for Canadian small-c conservatives. Based on his very selective interpretation of events and the opinions of RINO David Frum, the ever-progressive Kay concludes:
... [Canadian] “Third Way” politics, or you can call it Statism Lite, or you can call it, as Marche does, hardheaded socialism (a term I really like). But the fact is: It’s what works in developed post-industrial economies — both in Canada and Scandinavia. ... fantastic news for Canadians. But it’s weird news for the Canadian conservatives. ...
With a few facts and some common sense Andrew Coyne easily demolishes Kay’s "arguments":
... Add up a one-third drop in U.S. real estate, a 50% rise in oil prices and a 15% increase in the value of the Canadian dollar and it’s hardly surprising to find the financial position of Canadian households has improved, measured against the Americans. It would be astonishing if it hadn’t. But how exactly does this make the case for the comprehensive superiority of “the Canadian system,” let alone “hard-headed socialism”? ...
Compared with Coyne, Kay is a light-weight.  I know, that's not news.

3 comments:

Anon1152 said...

Coyne seems to be saying that we can't trust "the market".

JR said...

Could be Anon, nevertheless his analysis of this issue is relatively sane when compared with Kay's.

Anonymous said...

Add up a one-third drop in U.S. real estate, a 50% rise in oil prices and a 15% increase in the value of the Canadian dollar and it’s hardly surprising to find the financial position of Canadian households has improved then American houses.....


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