Posted by
Ed Lilly on Saturday, August 02, 2008 12:49:28 PM
I see at the Maclean's site they have a
story comparing/contrasting Canada and the U.S. Turns out they think life in Canada is a much better deal than here in the States. Here's the summary:
The numbers are in. Compared to the U.S., we work less, live longer,
enjoy better health and have more sex. And get this: now we're
wealthier too.
Is this some kind of viral attempt to get people to move from the good ol' U S of A to Canada? Maybe to make it an attractive destination for supporters of whichever candidate loses the fall presidential election? Maybe a look at the immigration numbers will show that rather than trying to get to the U.S., all those poor third worlders are merely using our country as a convenient jumping off point to sneak over the 49th parallel into Canada for a Molson Canadian and a Tim Horton's, eh?
Turns out that for all the hype of the lead-in, the end of the piece reveals a slightly different "truth" than the starting point:
Be it sports, health care, business or wealth, Americans are still
competing to be the best. And it's true that the best in the U.S. is
the best you'll find on the planet. But when you look at the medians
and the averages, their accomplishment pales. As the hard numbers in
this report show, Americans have shorter lives, poorer health, less
sex, more divorces, and more violent crime. Which may mean that perhaps
America isn't the greatest nation on earth. After all, you can't judge
a nation by the best it produces, you have to judge it by the success
of the average Joe. And the average Joe in Canada is having a way
better time.
Hmmm. Medians and averages can certainly be interesting comparisons on this kind of thing. But raw numbers might also be interesting. My guess is that in terms of sheer numbers, a nation of 300 million has a lot more people who are experiencing a standard of living that is equal to and in many ways better than the standard of living of comparable Canadians among their approximately 33 million population. Twain's observation on statistics, damn statistics, and lies still holds.