Canadian Politics Today

Not with 300K-400K immigrants per year moving into Canada's big cities.

Scheer's base really thinks he's going to be cutting immigration.  Why the rural Canadian types give a **** is beyond me but...

This doesn't explain it all though.  There's lots of companies and industries caught up in "making the hamster run faster and longer" that aren't in competition with foreign markets and can't offshore labour.

We're talking about manufacturing here.  The labour market for services is similarly diluted.

The only data we have in this thread is that there's less people maker lower incomes and more people making over 100k.  People being better off or worse has a lot of variables.  We need data on: how has output per worker changed?  Changes in hours per week worked, especially for those on salary?  How have work benefits changed?  Pensions?  How has job security changed?

Why do you want those answers ?  To determine how productive workers are, or how well off they are or...

Also, what are the psychological effects of families working off 2 incomes vs 1 income as in past?  What are the sociological and psychological effects for all involved re: the vast increase in single parents?  Or the vast increases in divorce rates?  Or the delay in adults having children, or not having kids at all?  Or children living with their parents for much longer than before?

Psychological diseases like depression and anxiety seem to be booming, why?

Are they though ?  Or are things being recognized more than in the past ?  I can't imagine anyone in the 1930s getting "stress leave".

How well off.

Ok.  And I think someone objectively trying to find out such things would ask these questions.  My comments, specifically.

"how has output per worker changed?"

That shouldn't have much to do with how well-off workers are.  A higher number doesn't mean they are working harder.  Indeed, I might add some things here that you didn't: injuries in the workplace, what is acceptable as 'sick', eg. depression and mental health and so on.  Also what constitutes harassment and fair treatment.  (I assume you're looking at workplace conditions with that stat, output per worker)

" Changes in hours per week worked, especially for those on salary?  How have work benefits changed?  Pensions?  How has job security changed?"

Those are all related, and likely have gone worse for workers, although I think the last two are the most impactful.

I have no idea.  30's and 40's were very stressful times.  I'm talking post-WWII.

Some things about them were a lot better than in the past, though.  But ok - we're acknowledging that 'progress' is a thing.  That's not a small deal.  Some will tell you that the masses have no right to expect improvement in their lot over time. 

" Changes in hours per week worked, especially for those on salary?  How have work benefits changed?  Pensions?  How has job security changed?"

Those are all related, and likely have gone worse for workers, although I think the last two are the most impactful.

I think you need to broaden your comparison from the mythical 50s and 60s. If you go back in time to 20s-30s workers were much worse off than today. The 50s and 60s were a unique time where North America benefited from the consequences of wars that were fought elsewhere. That made the US in particular the only place where many goods could be manufactured. On top of that, the population pressures we have today did not exist. This myth started to break down by the 70s with the oil crisis and with the rise of the global economy we wealth being distributed more fairly around the world at the expense of the lowest tier of workers in wealthy societies.

Lastly: as much as people complain about the rat race today how many would actually want to live in the 50s-60s with the racism, sexism and other social problems which we are managing better today.



 

I think you need to broaden your comparison from the mythical 50s and 60s. If you go back in time to 20s-30s workers were much worse off than today. The 50s and 60s were a unique time where North America benefited from the consequences of wars that were fought elsewhere.

I think we have been saying exactly that.

That made the US in particular the only place where many goods could be manufactured. On top of that, the population pressures we have today did not exist.

I don't know what 'population pressures' means.  More people isn't usually a problem - being unable to manage growth is the problem.  This to me is evidenced by people saying Canada, or Toronto have 'too many people' but they have less than America, New York, etc.

 

Lastly: as much as people complain about the rat race today how many would actually want to live in the 50s-60s with the racism, sexism and other social problems which we are managing better today.

I forgot to mention that, and it's something that especially young Liberals don't understand.  There was no 'freedom' to date who you wanted, to say what you wanted, even to dress as you wanted.  There were no groups of like-minded people for you to fraternize with.

That's part of the balkanization of the political landscape, come to think of it: liberals and conservative groups connecting online.

I don't accept "grin and bear it" as a prescription for getting through life, especially when it's given by people who have fewer problems.  But I also respect the idea that getting help for problems also means helping yourself and making the tough choice to deal with those problems.

The trouble is this idea is taken to absurd extremes where people use the label an excuse to not address the root causes of the problem but instead use it as stick to pressure other people to excuse their failures to adhere to accepted norms. The plague of "emotional support animals" in places where they don't belong is a good example.

Yes, North America benefited but so did the Soviet Union, Western Europe and East Asian countries. Germany, Austria, France, Italy, and even Greece did very well during that time. Japan and South Korea both experienced massive economic expansion.

You won't find people in those countries nostalgic about the so called "golden age" of 50s/60s. (aside: adding South Korea to the list is bizarre given the war that was going on there at the time). In fact, Japan's emergence in the 70s and 80s as a threat to the US automakers was beginning of the necessary correction to the imbalances created by the war.