I don't really want to get into a "my dick is bigger than your dick" on the list, and I'm not about to glorify our politicians but Canada presently has the best economic performance of any of the industrialized countries according to most all economic observers. Quality of life is the indicator that really matters to the most of us, and we are rated #3 as opposed to the US's #13. If you average most individual persons income to Bill Gates' we are all fabulously weathy, and I could live like a king in the majority of countries on $38000. Exchange rates are more or less meaningless indicators unless you are buying or selling foreign goods. The US$ rate is quite nice when I sell on EPay. That also makes our products attractive to US markets and helps keep our dollars at home. Every Canadian retiree is guarenteed an inflation-indexed pension of about $980 a month. With my additional pension I do just fine. Congratulations on how well you've done in acquiring such a lucrative pension. That would put you over $10,000 a month before even taking into account the effects of averaging. Yes we do have our "wonderful socialized health care", like virtually all modern industrialized states, and unlike in the US where the "health business" managed to do a head job on the people about the dangers of "socialized" medical services. If there was a buck in it, social welfare would also be "privatized". The majority of canadians cherish their right to medical services, unhindered by financial circumstances, and woe be to any politician who would dare suggest curtailing it, despite the propaganda and bladishments inundating us from a laviscious US health industry, greedily eyeing this virgin market. Your own critics like Michael Harrington in "The New American Poverty" or Studs Turkel do a much better job than I, so I won't counterpose my own version of "what-in-hell are they doin' down there ?" I posted the message because I found it humorous that a high government official had stated (in private originally) what a good percentage of the world and most canadians, thinks about Dubya. Usually they toady to US government sensibilities Your internal affairs are your(US) own business but when it impinges on my well-being, like the current affair with Iraq (It's about oil, Jack), then Dubya's fair game. We've already had bodybags come back of "Big Oil" excercising US muscles for control of world oil resources. Now back to our usual computer flames. Lawrence lgwalker(a)mts.net bigwalk_ca(a)yahoo.com