This is utter nonsense.  The world will never move to a common living standard with out free trade.  It is trade the raises the standard of living in poorer countries.  A more robust government intervention is the exact wrong way of trying to raise the standard of living.  Government intervention is nothing more than taking money from the majority of workers and giving it to a minority of people, usually well connected to the government.
The only way to improve the standard of living is through production and productivity.