"How Did Canada's Middle Class Get So Rich?"

This article from The Atlantic details how Canada surpassed the United States to become home to the richest middle class. For decades, America had the richest middle class, and this article offers three reasons as to why we lost the lead. These include "Canada's education attainment" which is becoming more than the U.S., American middle-class wages aren't keeping up with overall economic growth, and other governments redistributing income to poorer families. However, the article mentions that these three reasons do not mention anything about the housing market. The U.S is still recovering and emerging from a devastating crash of the housing market which greatly reduced or eliminated middle-class household wealth. On the other hand, Canada is experiencing a housing boom. These housing booms and busts have come at just the right time to intersect each other and put Canada in the lead.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/04/how-did-canadas-middle-class-get-so-rich/361053/

Ann Nenoff