Resolved: Capitalism Has Been The Exclusive Liberator From Grinding Poverty

I. The Context:Socialism is often seen as the great liberator of the poor. Conversely, that capitalism is the great oppressor has been asserted at best with theoretical or philosophical basis, at worst with sophist platitudes and false data. The author proposes therefore to challenge popular culture`s consensus that, empirically, capitalism is detrimental to the poor.II. The Challenge:As defined in the context, Pro challenges any who wish to engage in this debate to defeat the conclusion outlined in the title: That the only cases in which the masses have escaped the kind of grinding poverty that the overwhelming majority of people have been in since the dawn of time, which includes lack of access to clean water, lack of adequate nutrition, and so on so forth, have been when they have had capitalism and largely free trade. Digressions into the philosophical moral propriety of an economic system ought be penalized, but mentions of empirical data such as loss of human life are permitted. The first round will consist only of constructive arguments (no rebuttals), after which the participants may (and must) refute those claims in the previous argument(s) proposed by the other. The last round will be closing statements in which no new arguments may be stated.III. The Claims:We may begin our examination of the history of poverty by looking at the state of the world in 1820. Nearly the entire world is poor, with a billion people in poverty and a scant 60 million not. (https://ourworldindata.org...)In terms of economic policy, nearly the entire world is under the thumb of mercantilism, with the notable exception of the United States and to a much more limited extent the Ottoman Empire. Trade is seen as a zero-sum game in the which one country wins, the others lose. Enter the increasingly dominant notion of capitalism and free trade, which was to change the world forever. The following dynamic graphic is a representation of the data of GDP per capita in this paper (http://piketty.pse.ens.fr...)http://www.gapminder.org...Observe the following countries:1. The USA: In terms of the size of government and as to the welfare state, it was non-existent. The GDP amounted to 710 million dollars, and government spending only 19 million, just 2.6% percent. The US had free trade essentially since independence. Indeed there were tariffs in the nineteenth century, but they amounted to be only on average in the 20% neighborhood, and had as their principle goal the financing of the government. (source for tariff rate: https://memory.loc.gov...)2. The UK: The great proponent of free trade in the 19th century. Acheived near total free trade in 1846, with the repeal of the corn laws, coinciding with it pulling way ahead of the rest of Europe. Note that its colonial holdings essentially do not expand until the scramble for Africa in the 1870s, so this growth at least in that period cannot be attributed to colonial exploitation. 3. Argentina (a tiny dot above the 1560ish level). Pursued liberal trade and limited government intervention in the economy, which according to OECD was "measured and targeted" (rather than wholesale like present day economies) Quoting OECD, "Similarly, the liberal trade policy made a noteworthy contribution to early 20th-century growth." Once again, the free flow of capital, limited if any government intervention and free trade propel a very poor ex-colonial backwater into competing with Great Britain for wages in the 20th century. (http://www.oecd.org...) 4. Germany: Mostly stagnant from our beginning of 1820 until the 1850s. It was divided up into many tiny states, all of whom had their own customs laws. A merchant could cross more than 18 borders. Germany subsequently implemented the Zollverein, and the internal customs barriers fell, being totally eradicated in 1871 with the foundation of the German empire. Economic growth ensued. 5. France: Rivalled Great Britain on freedom of trade in the period discussed. http://www.parisschoolofeconomics.com... a leader in economic growth. And so on, so on. No society ever harvested the fruits of the West, which are a decent standard of living with access to the amenities of modernity, without planting its roots, which are capitalism and more-or-less free trade.