Ask yourself why socialist Scandinavia has vastly higher standards of living than the United States. First of all, since when has Scandanavia been a country? Secondly: Notice the use of the words "capitalism" and "free market." Sure, Sweden also has "extensive welfare benefits," but what 1st world country doesn't have a welfare system? And Norway also has "government intervetion," but so does the U.S. Thirdly, the U.S. has a higher GDP per capita than any of those three nations that make up Scandinavia (also according to the CIA World Factbook). Sure, if you measure standard of living by the Human Development Index, then the U.S. falls behind, but that doesn't remove the fact that the U.S. economy is the "most technologically powerful economy in the world." Not to mention that the U.S. really isn't that far behind in the HDI ratings (In 2006 (I couldn't find anything more recent),Norway's was .968, Sweden's was .958, Finland's was .954, and the United Sates' was .950).