“Capitalism is the best economic system ever tried.”

Since 1820, the share of humanity living in extreme poverty has fallen from roughly 94% to under 10% today, with the steepest drop happening between 1990 and 2015 as market economies expanded, especially in China and India. Critics point to the flip side of that same era: rising inequality within wealthy countries, recurring financial crises, and ecological strain tied to growth-driven production. The debate flared up again in 2025–2026 as self-described democratic socialists, most visibly NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, gained real political power.

Bill Maher, comedian (capitalism wins by comparison): "It's terrible, except it's still better than the reverse." He pointed to satellite images of capitalist South Korea lit up at night next to dark, socialist North Korea, and called Mamdani's politics "straight-up communism." Branko Milanovic, economist (growth is the proof): capitalist growth is "the most powerful tool for reducing global poverty and inequality" — a view he describes as close to consensus among economists. Jason Hickel, economic anthropologist (the engine is the problem): "Capitalism works according to a simple, straightforward formula: take more, from labour and from nature, than you give back in return... this system generates perpetual crises of inequality and ecological breakdown." Zohran Mamdani, NYC Mayor (a middle path): defines his democratic socialism as "a commitment to dignity, a state that provides whatever is necessary for its people to live a dignified life" — closer to a more generous mixed economy than to abolishing markets.