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The failure of American economic success to translate into widespread well-being is dramatically exposed by the tripling of the $3-a-day extreme poverty population to over four million. The US, with its massive wealth, has allowed this crisis to worsen.
The key driver is policy, not economics. Decades of decisions—including cuts to social safety-net programs, tax cuts favoring the rich, and tariffs—have systematically fueled inequality, a stark contrast to China’s deliberate state-led eradication of extreme poverty.
Income figures confirm the exclusion: the middle-class share has plummeted, and the poorest 10% receive a devastatingly low 1.8% of the national income, a share that is less than low-income earners in many poorer countries.