In stark contrast to America's looming leap off the "fiscal cliff" and its vaccuum drag on Canada, the world's "poorest president" lives by example on around $700 a month.
Jose Mujica is not partaking in a grim austerity demonstration. He's chosen a simpler life, and no part of it is considered a sacrifice. A BBC News profile revealed how he does it.
Farming free of secret-service
When Mujica was elected president of Uruguay in 2009, he stayed at his wife's farmhouse (which BBC News called "ramshackle") instead of moving into the palatial residence provided for the country's leaders.
He hangs his laundry. He and his wife farm their land. There is no heavy security to be found. According to BBC, two police officers and Mujica's three-legged dog Manuela are his only watchmen.
According to CBC, Canada's defence spending was $22.8 billion in the last fiscal year, which accounted for 10 per cent of all program expenses. Stephen Harper's personal security is projected to top out at $20 million this year, an all-time high.
Purging personal wealth
Mujica makes about $12,000 a month as president, but doesn't see most of it. He donates about 90 per cent of his salary to charities that benefit the poor and small businesses.
Uruguay requires its state officials to report their personal wealth annually. Mujica's annual personal wealth declaration in 2010 was a mere $1,800 from his sky blue 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. He added half of his wife's assets in her land, tractors and house this year, bringing the total up to $215,000.
After his sizable donations, Mujica's monthly income becomes $775, putting him on par with the average Uruguay citizen's monthly paycheque.
The average Canadian family's annual income has been $65,500 for the last few years, which works out to roughly $5,500 a month. Yet Canadian debt grew at its fastest pace in years over the summer, bringing the average consumer non-mortgage debt up to $26,768.
Shaped by circumstance
Mujica was part of the urban guerrilla organization Tupamaros in the 1960s and 1970s. His involvement cost him 14 years in jail and six bullet wounds.
But instead of ruining his life, his imprisonment bred an inspiring outlook on freedom.
"I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more," Mujica told BBC.
"This is a matter of freedom. If you don't have many possessions then you don't need to work all your life like a slave to sustain them, and therefore you have more time for yourself," said Mujica.
"I may appear to be an eccentric old man... But this is a free choice."
