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The US faces a global disgrace in income equality: the poorest 10% of Americans receive a smaller share (1.8%) of the national income than low-income earners receive in China. This comparison underscores the devastating depth of American inequality.
This failure of distribution is not due to economic weakness—US output per person is six times higher than China’s—but political choices. Policy decisions over decades have consistently favored the wealthy through tax legislation and cuts to essential safety-net programs.
The consequence is a tripling of Americans living in extreme poverty to over four million people. The US has moved in the opposite direction of China, which successfully eliminated extreme poverty for a billion citizens.