Pretty sure I agreed with you regarding no real power gains in dropping the cat. In Alberta, they are not illegal to take out... however, there is a debate going on right now about the "Air-care" that BC has being moved into Alberta meaning our cars would also have to pass the emissions test as does a lot of the states and some provinces in Canada.
I wont argue the catalytic converter benefits because I am not knowledgeable enough about them (as for benefits and faults) same as I keep quiet on the ozone layer (seeing as the sun creates ozone .. its hard for me to imagine it actually depleting or becoming extinct.. physics say that would be very near impossible.. but.. I am not a scientist)
Basically, I keep my cat on because Yoda put it there. Therefore, I keep it. If they had neglected to, I wouldnt put it on unless the govt bullied me into it.
If your worried about the environment side of it.. you have to be aware that over 75% of the pollutants happen while the car is idling. Stop the traffic jams.. and you solved the whole problem. Thats why the electric cars are a good idea (the ones that only use gas to accelerate, turn off the gas engine while cruising and then stop both engines at a red light). Us driving is not doing enough damage to the environment to worry about, sitting at a red light or in heavy traffic is a different issue altogether. Blame the traffic designers (dont know how traffic is where you live, but here (and we only have a million people in Calgary) the road systems are built to go North and South.. East and West is stupidly designed. We have about 8-9 hours a day where cars are doing massive start/stop situations.
I work from home because of it. My contribution to the environment.
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