Two Things

I like this cartoon.

In other news ... "Canadians continued to heap on debt in first quarter"

The sniveling toadies to the USA masters of the Canadian universe seem perplexed that Canadians, already with debt-to-income levels of 150% are still not living within their means.

In a recent interview, bank governor Mark Carney lamented the comfort level of Canadians with high debt, attributing it to the illusion of affordability at a time of sky-high home values and floor-low interest rates.
...

Equifax Canada calculates the number of consumer credit applications in a given period of time compared to 2007, which is the time frame considered “normal.”

“There’s no deleveraging, Canadians are increasing their debt,” Abdo said.

“(But) they’re not applying for new credit as much as they had in the past because I think what’s happening is since were seeing an increase in indebtedness, people are using the lines of credit they had before ... they’re being smarter about how they spend their money because they have the facilities to do that.”

It’s hard to know, he said, whether those people still taking on debt will be able to service it when interest rates rise.

What isn't hard to figure out is that Canadians, suffering with stagnating incomes, increasingly insecure employment options, rising housing, fuel, food and education costs for decades, and (for many) sudden long-term unemployment since 2008, aren't able to budget properly.

As North Americans, we're simultaneously bombarded with a multi-billion dollar propaganda barrage called "advertising" to make us spend and consume, that capitalists wouldn't pay for if it didn't work.

All the elite hand-wringing about Canadians' household debt is just so tiresome. Meanwhile, our leaders can pull $10 billion out of thin air to buy warplanes that we don't need. And our wealthiest and our financial sector "invest" in fraudulent garbage that ends up needing taxpayer (read: indebted Canadian households') bailouts. It's a fucking farce.

ETA:

Just to emphasize how utterly absurd our "serious" "economic experts" are, consider where Canada's economic performance would have been without this extra debt (much of it for car loans according to the link) having been taken on by already overstretched households.

We need to find a stable economy that is NOT based on ecologically unsustainable consumerism and socially unsustainable profit.