Compared to my libertarian fantasies (and compared to 100 years ago), government is far too big in the United States and Switzerland.

Compared to other industrialized nations, however, the U.S. and Switzerland have modest-sized, less-destructive governments.

For example, consider this chart, which has received a lot of attention. As you can see, the tax burden (vertical axis) is relatively modest in both the U.S. and Switzerland, as is the spending burden of the welfare state (horizontal axis).

I look at this chart and feel a patriotic stirring in my heart. My left-leaning friends, by contrast, will probably look at this chart and think “American and Swiss politicians don’t care about their people.”

So let’s compare living standards and see where people are most likely to thrive.

I’ve already done versions of that with my 7-part series comparing the United States and Europe (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

For today’s column, let’s specifically focus on the prosperity of ordinary people. Here’s OECD data on median income. Notice that the United States and Switzerland rank very high, along with oil-rich Norway and tax-haven Luxembourg.

France, by contrast, lags far behind.

The most powerful comparison, though, is this chart. Americans in the 5th percentile (in other words, near the bottom by U.S. standards) have the same level of consumption as average people in France.

And somebody from the 25th percentile in Switzerland is equal to someone in the 50th percentile in France.

As they say in tennis, that’s “game, set, and match.”

The moral of the story is that if you care about ordinary people, the goal should be to have a smaller welfare state and lower taxes.

P.S. If you want to specifically compared France and Switzerland, click here, here, and here.