China’s achievement in reducing extreme poverty from nearly a billion people to zero by 2019 stands as one of the largest social transformations in history.
The United States, meanwhile, has allowed extreme poverty to rise. Over 4 million Americans now survive on less than $3 a day—a stunning failure for a country with unmatched economic power.
Despite high productivity and technological leadership, U.S. prosperity increasingly benefits only the wealthy. Middle-income earners slide backward, and the poorest fall further behind.
Income inequality widens each decade. The poorest Americans earn a national income share resembling low-income nations rather than the world’s leading democracy.
Cuts to healthcare, food support, and social safety nets, alongside tariffs that raise household expenses, show how policy decisions reinforce inequality. America’s poverty crisis results from political design.