It's funny to me that people who can otherwise not go three sentences without reminding everyone that the US and the imperialist core steal their wealth from the periphery would expect _not_ to see this wealth reflected in the relative wages of said evil imperialist nations. And how else would you measure the workday relative to living standards, if not by wages?
As far as health care goes, you're right. But I'd like to know in which countries you think the health care problem is solved. As for education, you're partly right, tho once again, some comparisons would be nice. The US spends less per capita on education (18% of per cap GDP) than Japan (19%) or Switzerland (20.1%), but considerably more than China (6.5%) or France (15.8%) or Australia (14%). As for military spending, etc., Max's point applies: you're confusing the evil of the state with the nation itself.
Christian