Me <expletive deleted>. We're one of the oldest nations on the planet.
I would hazzard a guess at to what MoneyFool was getting at.
When it comes being a free market, globalised economy that truly is subject to the whims of international socio-economic developments - we are little more than children. It's not long along that we were viewed in some quarters as being 2nd/3rd world in terms of development.
We are currently having fun by playing with an exciting, shiny and hazardous new toy that is symptomatic of all 1st world free market economies with access to decent credit. The toy is simply asset speculation.
I really like that "first paycheck" analogy.