Tomato tomahto.

I felt like it was a plot device to show how humans are capable of great things, not that they always are the best. Picard was always supposed to be the philosophical pinnacle we should desire to reach. I mean it's already a post-scarcity society where pursuit of wealth is viewed as a negative. I saw it as that humans and the Federation still had a long way to go, despite their successes, much like the USA in the 90s.