<i>No, the current system produces by far the highest standard of living for the most people.</i><p>There are a lot of things that could be said about this -- such as the real effect on &quot;living standards&quot; <i>outside of the former imperial core</i>, a.k.a. the rest the world, since &quot;the current system&quot; forced its way in these countries during the era roughly encompassing 1790-1950.  (Hint: by some accounts utterly devastating; in general less than 1850 standards; in some cases abysmally worse).  Or say, that small matter of the ecological impact of our wonderful system, and the ever-widening cornucopia of goods, pleasures and experiences it produces -- and the very real, imminent, and starkly negative effects this impact will have on &quot;living standards&quot; across much of the planet, not too far off from now.<p>Or heck, even that pesky little subject of not just &quot;stagnating&quot;, but declining median living standards in the U.S. generally, over the last 20-30 years.<p>But I wasn&#x27;t talking about living standards.  So it&#x27;s a completely different subject.<p><i>Versus: USSR</i><p>Living standards in modern CIS countries &quot;versus&quot; those the peak socialist years (late 50s - late 70s) would make for a very interesting comparison, indeed.  (Again, just as a hint: they&#x27;ve largely plummeted, across the board).<p><i>Cuba. Cambodia. Vietnam. Socialist Germany and Italy of the 20th century. North Korea. Mao&#x27;s China. Venezuela.</i><p>Aside from the naked cherry picking (by listing only &quot;their&quot; basket cases and failures, never &quot;ours&quot;), listing Italy in the same sentence as the GDR, North Korea and Mao&#x27;s China, in virtually any context, is just... bizarre.