The United States has a stunning advantage in economic output per person, which is six times greater than China’s. However, this superior productivity has failed to prevent extreme inequality from deepening, a clear sign that the problem is distribution, not generation, of wealth.
This policy failure has allowed the US extreme poverty population ($3 a day or less) to triple over 35 years to over four million people, a stark failure when compared to China’s achievement of eradicating extreme poverty for nearly a billion citizens.
The income data highlights the political choice: the poorest 10% of Americans receive a negligible 1.8% share of the national income, worse than that of low-income earners in many poorer countries. Legislative decisions have systematically channeled wealth upward.