Unless that is factored in under "Anglo-Saxon culture." The U.S.S.R. sat on magnificent and abundant natural resources, and barely made it by. Nations like Japan, sitting on almost no resources, did a lot better.

You do make a good point about us being the only nation largely untouched by WWII. I believe that much of the luxury of our labor situation in the 1950s and 1960s is due to that. We could afford to pay middle class wages and benefits to some guy turning a bolt on a line, because nobody else could do it. That's not true any more, and this is a problem, since a strong middle class is essential to a stable society.