It reflected a certain self-doubt, ... a rather pervasive pessimism. (5) And the fact that the U.S. current account balance struggled to maintain itself in the black through most of the 1960s, and went from a small surplus in 1970 to a deficit of US$3 billion in 1971, did not help at all, especially as Canada seemed to be doing quite well, at least in terms of its trade surplus with the U.S.; th