Is that right? I recall a situation where Canadians rushed into the US to buy merchandise when your dollar became par with ours, to the extent it made headlines on BOTH sides of the border. Yeah, you don't need money to be happy. :roll:
We are of course generally speaking in this topic.... trying to label everybody with one paint brush doesn't work in this situation.
I wasn't one of those fools who ran over the border at the first chance, because I knew better.
By the time you get your car to the border, wait to get through, get your money exchanged to go buy things in the US, get your product, pay for it, then drive all the way back to the border, claim your items and make sure you can travel back across the border with those products, and possibly pay the duty on those products (Where required) and drive back home with the product, not to mention the price of gas to travel there and back, exactly how much is one really saving?
(Depends on what you're buying)
But regardless, people in the US have been doing the same thing going to Canada for things cheaper for the last couple of decades, in fact this trend isn't just isolated to Canada and the US, so I see no major connection in that aspect.
When one lives in a society where currency is kind of manditory for survival and that crap, currency to a level is a given. But when it comes to Insurance companies, mortgage companies, the government, health care, and many other sectors, their hidden policy for the most part if profit first, health and needs second. This exists to a degree in Canada as well, but not to the rampant distruction of what I have been seeing and hearing about in the US in the last couple of years.
That's the difference I see when it comes to Capitalism. It's almost a rampant plague in the US for those running companies which are supposed to help people in their times of need, to easily turn a blind eye to the suffering and actual job they are supposed to provide, all for the sake of their own personal profit and status in life.
Gun control would be another aspect. In Canada, most considder the availability of firearms is a problem for street crimes and the sort, while in the US, most considder the firearm's availability to solution and their god-given right to own a firearm to protect themselves from others who wish to do harm to them (Or defend your country in a formed Militia, depending on how you read it) Heck..... when a school shooting occurs, and the topic hit forums I went to in the past, the average Canadian poster would have mentioned more restrictions, more communication and help for those people is required, increase security, find a solution to the problem.
In the US, what were most of the solutions?
Allow the students to carry firearms into classes to protect them from potiential shooters, as they would be quicker to respond then the police. (I don't suppose anybody sees a problem with that)
Don't forget about Public Education differences.
What about the fact that most in the US, including the current president, still believe Creationism over Evolution.
Then there's the whole mentality of avoiding the on-going problems in the US and the war, where many will still stay the course, regardless of the actual evidence and situations available for research...... but will also remain proud, and claim that they're still the greatest country in the world and all that hoopla, when there are clearly major issues within the country that need addressing. I am fully aware of the problems facing Canada and us as citizens of the nation, and I try my best to keep on top of it all...... But I am not about to start boasting Canada as the greatest country in the world.... no country is.
There are plenty of things which make Canada and the US similar, but no more or less then any other country, and there are plenty of major differences between the two to make them very different.
And when it comes to people getting the help they require in the US in relation to medical conditions.... check out Sicko and tell me again that the hospitals in the US are much like those here in Canada.