Claims That Capitalism Is Eradicating Global Poverty Are Wildly Misleading
Boosters of the capitalist system love pointing to statistics suggesting stunning progress in eradicating global poverty. But those metrics set the bar pathetically low — and don’t account for the obscene explosion in global inequality.
To eradicate global poverty we need a far more robust system of global redistribution. (Richard Baker / Getty Images)
Fans of our current global economic order often justify it by claims of great progress in lifting people out of extreme poverty. Rarely do they cite statistics on inequality, such as comparing the slice of the “world pie” that goes to the rich versus that which goes to the poor. Little wonder as that picture is much grimmer, undermining their much-touted triumphant “progress.” Here are 2021’s global pie slices, according to World Inequality Lab data:
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