Good Examples

Paul Krugman notes that the Canadian banking system weathered the financial storm a lot better than ours did.

Canada’s experience seems to support those who say that the way to keep banking safe is to keep it boring — that is, to limit the extent to which banks can take on risk. The United States used to have a boring banking system, but Reagan-era deregulation made things dangerously interesting. Canada, by contrast, has maintained a happy tedium.

Isn't it ironic that the two things the United States is supposed to be good at -- banking and healthcare -- are trumped by the folks to the north who take a common sense and pragmatic approach without all the hyperbole and basically make them do what they need them to do?