Why You Feel Broke

Canada isn't working the way it used to, and everyone can feel it. Paycheques don't go as far. Housing is out of reach. Good jobs feel scarce, and the future feels less certain. We talk about affordability as if it's a pricing problem. It isn't. It's a productivity problem.

In Why You Feel Broke, Philip Cross, the former chief economist at Statistics Canada, uses fifty charts to explain the single force behind why Canada has been falling behind. For a decade, the country has been producing less value per worker while our peers, especially the United States, have surged ahead. The result isn't abstract. It's lower incomes, fewer opportunities, and a steadily eroding standard of living.

This clear, data-driven book shows how weak investment, poor policy choices, and a failure to innovate have left Canadians working harder for less. But it also shows how this story can change. Because productivity isn't destiny--it's a choice.