Hello cawacko,
For starters take China where hundreds of millions have been brought out of our poverty. You think they went from communism to a bunch of non-profits running the country and that's how they achieved what they have?
I see you are still under the assumption that there is only one other choice besides pure capitalism.
If only the world were so simple.
I agree that capitalism has lifted many many people up to a higher lifestyle. No doubt of it. But it is far more complex than either/or.
Some manage to start with nothing and work their way up. That used to be more common in the USA, but in recent decades upward mobility has been diminished.
Ruthless capitalists have no morals. Much of capitalism prevents people from rising above poverty. There are as many ways that happens as there are miles of highway in the USA.
Here is one way: Say an individual finishes school, gets a job and an apartment. And they need a car to get to work, but they cannot afford a new one, so they go to a 'Buy Here Pay Here' car lot. That nefarious dealer 'sells' them a car with a small down payment and regular monthly or even weekly payments. The car is older, has high mileage, but runs OK and the buyer likes it so a deal is struck. The car is also equipped by the dealer with a GPS location device in case the buyer defaults on the payments. The car payments with interest on the car loan are steep. The worker, who is unable to save much after rent and car payments keeps making the payments until they get sick and have to miss work for a week. That puts this person short a paycheck, and he is unable to make the car payment that week.
The dealer sends the repo guy to repo the car. The worker recovers from the illness but is unable to get back to work on time and loses their job.
Now the worker goes to try to get another job and has to take a more undesirable job because they have no good reference and no car. He gets the new job but needs another car to get to the job. So he goes to another 'Buy Here Pay Here' car lot. The cycle begins all over again. The worker is unable to save enough to buy a car for cash, never gets a car paid for, and is stuck for life making car payments.
'Buy Here Pay Here' car lot dealer takes that first car, cleans it up and puts it back on the lot to get another buyer on the hook for more payments. The new buyer also defaults after several months. Th car is repossessed again and again. The ['Buy Here Pay Here' car lot dealer actually sells the same care multiple times thus generating far more profit than the car is even worth. The buyers are stuck in an endless loop and can never save enough to own a car outright, much less save for a down payment on a house. And by the way, after a few defaults on car loans, their credit rating is bad, so no bank would ever loan to them even if they could save enough for a home down payment.
Individuals like this are never able to get beyond car payments and rent, unable to own a home, which is the primary financial instrument for building wealth for most upper class Americans.
Thus, ruthless capitalism has ensured that impoverished people remain impoverished.
And that is just ONE way capitalism oppresses the vulnerable. And that is here in the USA. It is worse in other more impoverished nations. As I said, there are many many ways. Don't make me tell the story of how it is for migrant farm workers.
