[bungie4]

I work in Tech (programmer) in Sudbury.

Their is far more money here than appears on the surface. Years of 10,000+ miners making 100K+ per year + nickel bonus saw to a rather well off retirement community and thriving big ticket item market. Yup, lots of them borrowed to get there quickly. But it was also paid off quickly.

Now, that being said, Sudbury is a very different place 15 years later. The vast majority of the mining jobs are gone, the infrastructure is falling apart. But I wouldn't even come close to calling it poor. Is the future bright here. Nope. But I wouldn't call lots of the major centers to the south prosperous either.

Myself. I never had a CC until I was in my 40's. Even then, they are rarely used, and, paid off immediately. Despite what I think is an artificially inflated local housing market, I manage to save a significant chunk of my income every month. The root cause of the debt problem, I think, is the lack of education. Schools haven't taught 'money' in ages. Managing a household is no different than managing a small business. People have been purposely NOT taught how to manage their money by our education system, it borders on the negligent.

[jacquesm]

Sudbury is kind of special on account of a certain comet landing there.

[bungie4]

Doesn't matter if its a nickel delivered from space, or timber or diamonds or gold. What matters is that it's a resource based economy that has been sold and sold resold to different companies

Anecdotal evidence of money issues is my buddy who does repo's and is baliff. Just before the economy goes into the tank as a whole, he's called it each time because repo's and defaults shoot way up just before.

Unfortunately, he's very busy at the moment.

[jacquesm]

I'm very sorry to hear that. I spent 5 years in all in your beautiful country, have spent many days in and around Sudbury and the Timmins area.