While Leftists Were Trashing Capitalism, Stats Show Capitalism's Cured Famine
Liberalism is about “caring” and “helping people” — at least, it’s supposed to be.
You’ve heard it in speeches from leftists like Senator Bernie Sanders or the Democrat party’s newest socialist darling, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: They’re just more considerate when it comes to reaching out to people, while capitalist conservatives are heartless, uncaring and probably kick their dogs.
Like so many narratives today, however, the facts paint a very different picture. For all the desperate demonization of “greedy” capitalism, it turns out that no other system has helped the poor around the world quite like conservative principles.
American-style capitalism has transformed the world so much that we take it for granted. It wasn’t that long ago that starvation and famine were real concerns on a daily basis.
Now, the biggest health problem for the poor in western countries is … obesity. The “poor” under capitalism are so rich that their largest problem — no pun intended — is having too much to eat. Think about that for a minute.
It’s the same story worldwide, but you won’t hear radical leftists admitting it any time soon.
“Famine has all but disappeared outside of war zones,” HumanProgress.org, a pro-freedom think tank, recently pointed out on Twitter.
“In 1961, food supply in 54 of 183 countries was <2k calories per person per day,” the post continued.
In other words, less than a generation ago, one-third of all nations in the world weren’t getting enough to eat. But what’s happened since then?
“That was true of 2 countries [out of 183] in 2013,” HumanProgress explained. That’s a mere one percent of worldwide countries with famine problems.
“In 1960, global life expectancy was 52.6 years. In 2015? 71.9 years—a 37% increase,” the think tank also elaborated.
Don’t let leftists fool you into thinking that these amazing improvements have come from their socialist policies, either. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the worldwide trend has been an almost universal rejection of socialism and its ugly cousin, communism. That has meant better lives for nearly everyone.
“Instead of a rise in poverty rates, the world saw the greatest poverty reduction in human history. In 1981, the World Bank estimated, 42.2 percent of humanity lived on less than $1.90 per person per day (adjusted for purchasing power),” explained HumanProgress.
“In 2013, that figure stood at 10.7 percent. That’s a reduction of 75 percent. According to the Bank’s more recent estimates, absolute poverty fell to less than 10 percent in 2015,” they continued.
And the most socialist nations on Earth? They’re not doing so well.
Venezuela, which languished under socialism despite having vast reserves of natural resources, has gotten so bad that toilet paper is now a commodity and people are eating zoo animals for food. If that isn’t convincing, take one look at North Korea versus South Korea and ask yourself which one you’d rather live in.
Liberals love to rally for illegal immigrants, but never stop to consider why so many people are risking life and limb for just a chance to enter the United States. Here’s a question: Are more refugee boats heading to Cuba, or fleeing it? Are people risking everything to escape to Central America, or from it?
Repeatedly promoting tired and failed ideas like socialism seems like the famous definition of insanity: Doing the same thing but expecting different results.
Ironically, the “oh-so-caring” plans of Democratic socialists have ruined countless lives, while “heartless” capitalism has lifted entire nations out of poverty. It turns out that the road to hell truly is paved with good intentions.
Socialism in its various forms has been tried in many places, and leaves people worse off. Capitalism and conservatism, while certainly not perfect, work so well that even worldwide famine has been all but eliminated in a few decades.
The evidence speaks for itself … but facing reality has never been the liberal strong-suit.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
