I admit, I made a mistake. It wasn't real GDP growth rates. I misremembered my statistics and it was unemployment rates. Despite the U.S. getting hit pretty pretty hard economically in the past couple years, we're doing alright with Real GDP growth rates. Your little outliers which are doing so doing exceedingly well are mostly lightly populated countries with populations around the size of some of the larger cities in the U.S. Look at your unemployment rates, now think about how the U.S. is on the verge of a recession (if not in one, it's arguable), and then compare it to say, Sweden. Sweden has a 6.1% unemployment rate (in 2007), and the U.S. at that time had a 4.6% unemployment rate (it's now closer to say 5.4% in the horrible situation we're in due to credit market issues and war.)

Second of all, I just want to say -- fuck you, Chruser. I respected you, but if you want to talk down to me then you can suck a big one. You can disagree and call me out, but if you want to be a douche about it you're not even above dirt to me.

U.S.:

GDP - per capita (PPP):
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
$45,800 (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
2.2% (2007 est.)

Sweden:

GDP - per capita (PPP):
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
$36,500 (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
Definition Field Listing Rank Order
2.6% (2007 est.)

Now, the U.S. has over 30 times the population of your country and it's not that far behind on growth. It's also a good chunk ahead on real GDP per capita, despite absorbing hundreds of thousands of penniless, uneducated immigrants annually. Add in the destructive administration of the past 8 years, and our system is performing pretty damn well. It's apples to oranges and we're doing pretty fucking good with all things considered . Your buddies are doing well with growth because they aren't tied up in quagmires and bleeding out debt (which is a reason our currency is devaluing.) They're also more fuel efficient and not as reliant on oil, which is a major determining factor in our economic growth. Neither of those things are due to capitalism itself .

-------------------

Oh yea, I got my info. from CIA.gov