China’s sharp decline in extreme poverty is the result of aggressive, coordinated national policy. From nearly a billion impoverished people in 1990, the number fell to zero by 2019.
In America, extreme poverty has risen to more than 4 million people. This growing deprivation starkly contrasts the nation’s wealth and global dominance.
American productivity grows rapidly, yet prosperity is captured predominantly by the affluent.
The poorest Americans receive an income share comparable to those in developing nations, illustrating deep structural inequality.
Recent policy changes—including cuts to healthcare and nutrition programs and tariff increases—have compounded economic hardship. America’s inequality problem is a product of deliberate political decisions.