Despite the US’s economic success, income inequality remains breathtaking. But this is no glitch – it’s the system
The Chinese did rather well in the age of globalization. In 1990, 943 million people there lived on less than $3 a day measured in 2021 dollars – 83% of the population, according to the World Bank. By 2019, the number was brought down to zero. Unfortunately, the United States was not as successful. More than 4 million Americans – 1.25% of the population – must make ends meet with less than $3 a day, more than three times as many as 35 years ago.
The data is not super consistent with the narrative of the US’s inexorable success. Sure, American productivity has zoomed ahead of that of its European peers. Only a handful of countries manage to produce more stuff per hour of work. And artificial intelligence now promises to put the United States that much further ahead.
This is not to congratulate China for its authoritarian government, for its repression of minorities or for the iron fist it deploys against any form of dissent. But it merits pondering how this undemocratic government could successfully slash its poverty rate when the richest and oldest democracy in the world wouldn’t.
It says they brought millions out of poverty, didn’t say they eliminated it entirely. Every day in America we’re intentionally and purposely driving more and more people into destitute living situations, declaring they very existence as illegal and punishable by law, and literally locking them in cages to die as a direct and act of cruelty, I’d argue there is room for comparison when you’re looking at two hyper authoritarian countries side by side. I’m not a fan of china, their government is also committing unacceptable and irredeemable acts of cruelty, but they at least have done things that actually improved the lives of some Chinese citizens, our government in America is dead set on destroying at least half of us and our ability to get by, they’re not interested in improving anything for American citizens, they literally want to ruin peoples lives on the level of entire demographics without concern for anything other than enacting expensive cruelty.