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US poverty levels matter in the UK and across continental Europe because the rising level of poverty in the States – a trend that dates back to the turn of the century – is the direct result of a particular form of capitalism that increasingly popular rightwing parties say should be adopted. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives laud the US, but seem to care little about how it promotes a style of capitalism that leaves millions of people on the side of the road, injured in one way or another, allowing the rest to work, spend and save without a thought for the less fortunate.