I agree that Marshall was a visionary, but the European Recovery was mostly done by Europeans. Americans, like Russians, always want to take the credit for everything.
Most of the eleven countries ahead of the US are microstates. Some are just tax havens, like Bermuda, the Channel Islands and Monaco, others are oil states. The one that stands out is Singapore, which has a lot of diversity, an economy that is more regulated than the US, and is still a democracy. Singapore is neither Capitalist not Socialist, but a very successful blend. Norway owes some of its prosperity to oil, but not all of it, and has not allowed oil to corrupt its culture, as has occurred in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Louisiana and Texas.
