MALVEAUX: For the first time ever, Canadians are richer than Americans. Our neighbors to the north must be doing something right. I want to bring in Alison Kosik to talk about this at the New York Stock Exchange. Why is this such a big difference?</s>ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, the Canadians are kicking our butts.</s>MALVEAUX: What about the 401Ks?</s>KOSIK: Well, it is a terrible, terrible consequence of the recession, and Americans are losing $37 billion a year, because they are borrowing from their retirement plans, and then defaulting on those loans on top of that. Now, this is according to a new joint report. Now, these are considered last-resort loans. The people tend to take out these kinds of loans against their 401Ks when the unemployment rate goes up, and 18.5 percent of people with 401Ks borrowed from the savings in 2011, which is up 15 percent in 2006. But, Suzanne, this is where it is going to go horribly wrong. When people lose their jobs, you have to pay the loan back in 60 days. So it's no surprise that people in that decision can't afford it. So they incur these huge penalties, close to double the amount they borrowed, and their accounts end up being wiped out. So, yet, you get one more piece of the fallout of the stalling economy. Shows you how tough it is for so many people out there -- Suzanne?</s>MALVEAUX: Thank you, Alison. You have seen the labels on baby utensils, like bottles, bowls and containers, saying no BPA, but for adults, it is still in a lot of the products that we use.
Canadians Now Richer Than Americans for 1st Time