Whether capitalism causes or alleviates poverty is besides the point; the current system can only continue to function if there is a contingent of workers who earn less than a livable wage. I'm not saying that there are some boats that get missed by the proverbial rising tide: I'm saying that a portion of the boats must be chained to the ocean floor in order for the tide to even exist. These folks aren't merely being lost or forgotten in the shuffle, the impoverished class is essential to the entire process. Whether these populations are intentionally created or not is immaterial because the Powers that Be will never allow it to be addressed.

And I don't mean that individuals from within the ranks of the poor will never escape poverty (there are certainly many obstacles but it does happen) but that this underclass as a whole will continue to exist as long as the current socio-economic order is in charge. Any one person that escapes will be replaced by another.

This is why any legislative campaign for a universal living wage will never be allowed to succeed. Reformism is not a viable path to substantial change in the world today.

Regardless of how hard you work or whatever other Horatio Alger Bootstrap Bullshit rhetoric you tell yourself, you are standing on the backs of folks who's lack is the source of your plenty.