China’s economic transformation has few parallels. In 1990, extreme poverty was almost universal. By 2019, China had effectively eradicated it.
The United States, armed with far greater wealth, failed to reduce extreme poverty—and instead increased it. Today, millions of Americans live on less than $3 a day, far more than a generation ago.
America’s economic engine is powerful. Productivity is high, and innovation is accelerating. Yet the distribution of gains reveals the nation’s priorities: wealth flows upward, not outward.
The income gap between the middle class and the affluent has widened continuously since the 1980s. The bottom 10% of Americans earn a share of national income that resembles that of low-income nations—not a global superpower.
Tariffs, cuts to Medicaid, reduced nutrition assistance, and tax changes have pushed more Americans into hardship. These are not random outcomes—they are policy decisions that shape who benefits from national prosperity.