For many Canadians, watching the United States hurtle toward a financial precipice last week, it's probably difficult not to feel - in addition to detached horror - just the tiniest bit smug.
This is a dangerous emotion. America's divided government, more than $14 trillion in the hole, had to set aside differences and raise the debt ceiling or risk being unable to pay its bills.
On the surface at least, Canada, the behemoth's little cousin, appears to have avoided a similar fate through care and good planning.
Sure, we're running a deficit - last year Ottawa borrowed about 20 cents of every dollar it spent - but the U.S. is running into the red at twice that rate.
We do have a considerable debt, but it's only around 34 per cent of our GDP, whereas Uncle Sam, at last check, was pushing close to 60.
The reality is, though, that this could change abruptly. Right now, 11 cents of our tax dollar goes to service the debt.
That will rise abruptly when our bargain-basement interest rates finally and inevitably go up.
The government is promising to bring expenses back in line with revenue, true, but that may prove increasingly difficult as baby boomers shuffle out of the work force and into hospital beds.
And lord knows what will happen to our economy if our biggest trading partner falls on its face.
We may be doing well for the moment, but our position is precarious.
This is no time to get complacent.
