The existence of the middle class with many wealthy means you have to have a lot of people in poverty. If not liking that makes me left wing then so be it
What a horrible take. The world is not a zero sum game. The US in the 50s-80s is a good example of a thriving middle class and way lower poverty than now.
Edit: This is wrong. Poverty levels have been fairly stable since 1970. Middle class has shrunk but this does not appear to have had an impact on poverty rates.
The severity of destitution at the bottom of the social order skyrocketed from the late 70s onward thanks to austerity policies.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/20/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades/ You’ll need to provide some sources for that. This data suggests that poverty levels haven’t varied much in the last 50 years. Middle class has shrunk but this did not appear to impact poverty rates.
1950-1970ish had a higher poverty rate than any time in the 50 years since.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_States
Poverty dropped from 1950-1970 (due to economic growth but the middle class also expanded during this time period) and has been fairly stable since.
