The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that the idea that the United States occupies an exalted position above all the other countries of the world is one that plenty of Canadians have denied their whole lives. The Globe's Tim Shufelt writes that it is extremely annoying when American exceptionalism presents itself in ways that cannot be ignored. The S&P 500 Index of large U.S. companies has put together back-to-back blockbuster years, which has propelled the benchmark to a gain of 55 per cent, adding a whopping $20-trillion (U.S.) in market capitalization. Much of this has been driven, of course, by rampant enthusiasm for U.S. tech stocks. Apple is larger than the market cap of the entire Toronto Stock Exchange. While the past couple of years have been kind to stock markets globally, the U.S. is in a class of its own. The Magnificent Seven group of tech giants is larger than the stock markets of China, Japan, France and Britain -- combined. The American weighting in the leading global stock benchmark is close to 70 per cent. The U.S. has its stock market dominance, but the 4 Nations Face-Off hockey tournament starts in a couple of months. How about we settle this on the ice?