The United States of America may be the greatest place for functionally illiterate people to live in all of human history. No, it's a byproduct of the vast, endlessly dynamic wealth-generating machine that is the American economy. It continued, "Factory workers in the U.S. earn 60 per cent more than in the U.K. after adjusting for differences in living costs. Plumbers and electricians earn 90 per cent more, and retail workers earn double." This is not to deny real economic discontents — especially around high costs for housing, education and health care — but perhaps no economic system has been so vilified while so consistently delivering.