Democratic politicians and sympathetic journalists are constantly fond of telling the American people that we are the wealthiest country on Earth before lamenting some aspect of this country's domestic or foreign policy. Usually, a declaration that we are the wealthiest country on Earth is followed by a criticism of the number of people in this country that lack healthcare.

I am not sure how these politicians are concluding that we are the wealthiest country on Earth or in the history of the world but if you go by GDP per Capita or GNP per Capita or purchasing power (which are all typical measures of a country's wealth) we are not the wealthiest country on Earth and it would be nice if somone called them on it.

Furthermore, many of these same politicians who claim that “we are the wealthiest country on Earth” never seem to give due credit to one of the main reasons, free trade, and in fact many of these same politicians are the most ardent protectionists.