The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that over the past year, the Toronto Stock Exchange has deeply underperformed U.S. stock benchmarks. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that the same failings sapping the Canadian economy of its vigour are also to blame for the run of the TSX's shoddy performance. At the heart of Canada's economic and stock-market mediocrity is a lack of private-sector investment. For years, Canadian businesses have been loath to invest in things such as machinery and equipment, or productivity-enhancing research and development. Spending on those items has even started to decline in recent years. "These are fundamentally important factors for equities," BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic said in a note. "They drive earnings growth while also absorbing inflation, and they are right now tilted well in the U.S. direction." Canada's growth problem is quickly becoming a matter of national urgency. Economists and business leaders speak of serious risks to Canadian prosperity from falling standards of living and declining competitiveness. Real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita today has dropped to 2014 levels. Some interpret this as a lost decade for Canadian living standards.