I totally agree that you need to broaden up the statistics in order to see the full picture. Sure percentages may be dropping, but if the absolute number of people in poverty increases, imho we are not doing a good job, moreover, we are doing awful.
Capitalism makes the rich even richer and more people get driven in poverty, or atleast the standard they are used to, doesnt get better of the years, its a standstill. And this is just the middleclass struggle. The real poor people are hiding, too ashamed for their situation, and the wealthy ones are looking the other way, trying to find ways to tax evade more.
Mannas post is just mentioning the USA, but we can extrapolate this to the whole world, every country is having the same issues.
If you are amoung the lucky ones in the world who are born in wealth, praise yourself lucky and look after other people abit more instead of looking away, because poverty will not go away without any effort from all sides.
Capitalism is conquering poverty all over the world.
Capitalism has nearly destroyed starvation in the last 50 years. Step outside the USA and consider the improvement in the lives of extremely poor people. 50 years ago 50% of the world was on the brink of starvation. Now it is under 9% Where is this happening? The United States? No! Extreme poverty has been stamped out in the US long ago. The poorest countries are gaining relative prosperity quickly. Another dollar a day may seem like nothing to someone living in the US, but to the extreme poor, it means pushing starvation out of the immediate picture.