The news of Brazil surpassing The UK as the world’s six largest economy doesn’t shock me. They have a larger population and more resources. This also should be a warning to the US. Socialism doesn’t work and slows down economic growth rates.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Despite battling slower growth of its own, Brazil’s economy surpassed that of the sputtering United Kingdom in 2011, according to a new estimate from the Center for Economics and Business Research.

Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product for the year was $2.469 trillion, according to the study — making it the sixth-largest economy in the world.

Brazil eked ahead of the United Kingdom — which had total production of $2.420 trillion — by a razor-thin margin of only $49.2 billion.

“Brazil has a large workforce and extensive natural resources,” said Tim Ohlenburg, a senior economist at CEBR. “It’s set to grow faster than most European countries.”

This was inevitable and the reason why state regulation and interference is a bad thing. Kudos for the Brazilians for making the right economic decision. But they should also heed where Europe and now the US, have gone wrong.