Yes, that's what I was taught as well, and it may have even been somewhat true before all the corruption that haunts us today, save of course for theft of land, and labor and genocide.

You write as if we have an actually free market, and a true and transparent democratic process to bolster our entrepreneurial spirits, but we have neither, and the reality of the socialism you equate to less freedom, is only ever really afforded to the very affluent, and their multi-national banks and corporations.

We could likely learn something from China about poverty reduction and diplomacy, albeit I wont venture to write of the wars helping to sustain our dwindling economic prowess.