I'm richer than you - I must be the 1%

It's true.  For the first time EVAH*, Canadians are now richer than Americans. True, I'm not really feeling it myself personally despite reducing my debt ratio considerably over the last few years.  Nevertheless, relatively speaking, I'm probably better off compared to the average American than before Obama became president.

Americans might enjoy throwing politically-charged barbs at their neighbors to the north, Canadians now have at least one reason to be smug.

For the first time in recent history, the average Canadian is richer than the average American, according to a report cited in Toronto's Globe and Mail.

And not just by a little. Currently, the average Canadian household is more than $40,000 richer than the average American household. The net worth of the average Canadian household in 2011 was $363,202, compared to around $320,000 for Americans.

While Canada weathered the recession better than the United States, has a lower unemployment rate, a conservative government and Nobama, things aren't all peachy here either.  However, it goes to show you how poorly the Democrats have mismanaged the recession and botched the recovery.  They just wouldn't get out of the way and let the economy recover naturally.  Way to go guys.

It won't be long before the Occupy crowd decide to Occupy Canada as part of the 1%.

*Apparently EVAH in this case means recent history. 

Why not Boycott or Occupy K Street?

For those of you who don't know K Street, the Wiki definition sums it up pretty well in the first sentence;

K Street is a major thoroughfare in the United States capital of Washington, D.C. known as a center for numerous think tanks, lobbyists, and advocacy groups.

In other words it's the hub of special interest activity and influence in the country.  Later this morning, my Saturday Learning Series will take a look at it.  But here's a question for anyone who cares to answer it or even think about it:

Why are the Occupy Wall Street people protesting Wall Street and big retailers when their erstwhile hero,  president Obama, has always been complaining about "the special interests"?  Simply because that's who they've been told are the special interests.  The narrative conveniently overlooks unions, teachers, police, students, the medical industry, farmers, the military complex, communists, socialists, feminists, the gun lobby, the gay community, environmentalists, churches, racists, anti-racists, photographers the government itself, and pretty much any other group in the country.  In other words, if you are in any sort of group or club, you have a special interest.  The Tea Party and OWS both are special interests themselves.

Combating the power wielded by special interest groups, does not mean shutting down the groups, it means removing the opportunity from any specific group from achieving too much power.  That means going after the mechanism by which that influence and power is wielded.  That in turn means either going after government spending and legislation a la the Tea Party, or going after the lobbyists themselves.  Occupy K Street would achieve far more real change and it wouldn't be deemed anti-capitalist like the current OWS mish-mash of efforts is.

Just a suggestion.