<p>How convenient of you to dig up a thread that spencer and I have long ago resolved.</p>
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I'm sure you wouldn't like Americans calling Canada just another state of USA?
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<p>Uh, some Americans DO call Canada the 51st U.S. State. Mostly they're just being facetious, but that's not the point. They have the right to say whatever they want.</p>
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Firstly, it's not nice to say such things about other places, no matter how much you don't like the place.
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<p>If you don't like what I write, then don't read it. It's that simple. I think I've established that I like Singapore very much, so it must've been the sharp comments that got to you. Well if that's the case, then I don't know what to tell you.</p>
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Secondly, your argument on GDP is very senseless, and like what others have said, "is like comparing apples and oranges".
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<p>No it is not senseless. It's a very viable measure of absolute production. If a country doesn't produce a lot of goods and services well then, it's not an economic powerhouse.</p>
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You said Canada has 10 times Singapore's population.
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<p>I have also shown numerically that a Canadian is on average, more productive than the average Singaporean. That's right. More. What is up with that?</p>
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Taking this to be true, you haven't considered the fact that Canada has million of times Singapore's natural resources. So by that argument, shouldn't Canada produce millions of times more goods and services (i.e. GDP) than Singapore?
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<p>A ha! I was hoping for someone to pull this argument the last time the discussion was handled. You mentioned goods and services. It's true that Canada has a lot more goods than any small country that could ever compete with it. But it's not like a lot of Singaporeans are out living on the streets - a lot of them have jobs in the service sector which probably produce way more on average than any physical, natural resource ever could. Quite frankly, I don't buy that excuse for Singapore lagging behind Canada in total production, let alone total per capita production. As you probably well know, Singapore has an exceptional human capital. If Japan could become the 2nd strongest economy in the world, why can't Singapore at least outproduce Canada on average? It's not like Japan is rich and full of goodies themselves, you know.</p>