@nprofile1q... you are forgetting all the economic benefits of US imperialism. Until recently gas prices in the US for example were just a fraction of what the rest of the world has had to pay.
Even in 2002 when I visited the US for the first time I hitchhiked a lot and many people complained that prices like $1.40/gallon were getting unreasonably high, at the same time back in my home country the price was ~1.20-1.30EUR per *liter*.