Differences in Long-Term Economic Performance

Watching the May Day scum loons protestors in Seattle this week ranting  about the scourge of capitalism prompted me to pull out this chart. from AEI which pretty clearly demonstrates that the United States has been doing something for quite a while that has made it a far wealthier nation than the rest of the world. The the May Day scum loons protestors would probably suggest that the US has been able to adroitly exploit the rest of the world and steal from them. I tend to lean toward the interpretation that, up until recently, policies of  lesser government interference with the productivity of the private sector are the driver. At any rate it's quite clearly that there is something at work that results in a higher performing economy in the United States. And it's been going on for quite a while.