Recent legislative and trade decisions in the US, despite political rhetoric aimed at supporting the working class, have had the opposite effect. Policies like certain tax structures and tariffs that inflate consumer prices disproportionately harm lower-income households while shielding the wealthiest families.
This systematic policy favoritism is the fundamental driver behind America’s deepening inequality and the tripling of its extreme poverty population to over four million people living on less than $3 a day. The problem is one of political engineering, not economic scarcity.
The result is a damning income skew: the poorest 10% of Americans receive a share of national income (1.8%) that is less than that received by low-income populations in Nigeria, China, or Bangladesh.