According to research by Bruce Meyer at the Harris School, 68% of the American public believes poverty has increased over the last 25 years.

Steve Kaplan believes that proposed wealth taxes, such as the one in California and the 5% annual federal wealth tax proposed by Ro Khanna and Bernie Sanders, are ill-advised.

In the United States, after-tax income or after-tax consumption for every quintile has increased markedly since 1980.

In the United States, the absolute poverty rate, using a 1980 baseline, fell from 13% to under 3% in 2018.

Steve Kaplan asserts that since the Global Financial Crisis, the United States has outperformed major European countries like Germany, the Netherlands, and France in terms of per capita income growth.

The National Education Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the U.S., has an anti-capitalist critique.

According to research by Auten and Splinter, real after-tax per capita income for the bottom 50% of the U.S. population increased by two-thirds from 1980 to 2022.

Steve Kaplan argues that if the U.S. slows down technological adoption, other countries like China or India will advance, putting the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage similar to Europe.

Life satisfaction in the United States experienced a significant drop between 2018 and 2024.