New Zealand's new prime minister called capitalism a "blatant failure", before citing levels of homelessness and low wages as evidence that "the market has failed" her country's poor. Jacinda Ardern, who is to become the nation's youngest leader since 1856, said measures used to gauge economic success "have to change" to take into account "people's ability to actually have a meaningful life".

[Source]

Hard to argue with facts. And just for the record, New Zealand has affordable universal healthcare, something that the richest country in the world (USA! USA!) still lacks. Lower infant mortality than in the US as well as a higher life expectancy.

Yet, their new Prime Minister doesn't pull any punches when criticizing the dominant economic system in the world for failing her country:

Ms Ardern has pledged her government will increase the minimum wage, write child poverty reduction targets into law, and build thousands of affordable homes. In her first full interview since becoming prime minister-elect, she told current affairs programme The Nation that capitalism had "failed our people". "If you have hundreds of thousands of children living in homes without enough to survive, that's a blatant failure," she said. "What else could you describe it as?"

Of course, in New Zealand there is no closed two party system, so a person like Jacinda Ardern can become her nation's leader because they have a multi-party democracy, instead of one dominated by two corporately owned political parties. Still, it wasn't easy. The National party, a conservative one that followed neoliberal policies including joining the TPP, claimed they had grown the economy three percent, and thus were a success. But a success for the most well off, as we know, leaves millions behind struggling to feed, house and obtain good healthcare for themselves, while the rich grow fatter.

When will our country wake up and smell the stench of a capitalist system that prevents upward mobility, and makes life more difficult by the day for the vast majority of Americans? We've seen an increase in violence by the state over the last two decades in efforts to damp down economic protests such as the Occupy movement. And Trump received much of his support from a segment of society that feels left out of the economic gains handed to the rich by our system, a segment of society among which their are many who are increasing sympathetic to right wing nationalist, nativist and fascist organizations. This is the results of greater wealth and income inequality.

... We found that the greater the poverty and inequality in a country, the lower the rates of economic democracy. These findings suggest, for example, that the Anglo-American-led attack on trade unions and flexible labour policies may actually drive up poverty and inequality by cutting welfare benefits and driving up individual employment insecurity. While the OECD itself advocated these policies until recently, countries with high levels of economic democracy such as Norway, Denmark and Iceland have much lower levels of poverty than countries such as the U.S. and U.K. Far-right populism is on the march everywhere, including the Nordic countries. But Brexit, Trump and the more serious shift to the far right in Eastern Europe have been accompanied by diminishing economic security and rights at work, disenfranchised trade unions and cooperatives, and economic decision-making concentrated among financial, political and corporate elites.

You won't find a critique of the internationalist and corrupt system that globalized and weaponized capitalism has become in our mainstream media outlets, however. They have a vested interest in censoring and suppressing opinions that offer progressive alternatives. We saw what the media did to marginalize and demonize Bernie Sanders and his supporters last year, a campaign they continue despite the fact that he is consistently the most popular politician in America. And he is simply a mainstream New Deal Democrat in terms of his policy proposals. So don't expect to see any major politician (other than Sanders) offering a legitimate alternative to Disaster Capitalism absent a miracle.