From this comment and others above, WW, I think it's fair to say that you're a Glass-Is-Half-Empty kind of guy.  

"...  global middle class nearly doubled over the decade to 13% in 2011 ..."  So, things are much better than they used to be, and conditions are moving the right direction - thanks to market economies.  True, some nations remain chronic failures (Haiti, Cuba, Zimbabwe) but mostly due to hamhanded misgovernance and corruption, or a refusal to give up on Soviet-era socialism.

"... living off $10 or less a day ..."  Been there, Done that.  :-/  The first job I had as a teenage wage-earner in the U.S. paid me minimum wage - I grossed $10 each and every day, and truly felt like I was in Tall Clover.  :)   So, these metrics are kind of relative.