China Ends Extreme Poverty; U.S. Inequality Reflects Policy Failure

China’s remarkable anti-poverty effort reduced extreme deprivation from 943 million people to zero. Its success shows what targeted national policy can achieve.
The U.S. has experienced a very different trajectory. Extreme poverty continues to expand, with more than 4 million Americans living on under $3 a day.
Despite booming productivity and technological advantages, American prosperity is distributed unevenly. Wealth heavily favors those at the top.
Middle-income families now earn far less relative to wealthier households than in decades past. The poorest Americans earn a share of national income comparable to developing nations.
Cuts to health coverage, nutrition assistance, and public benefits—alongside tariff-related price hikes—worsen the conditions for low-income families. Inequality in America is built through policy, not market outcomes alone.