Sorry, what? Bottom of America can't afford (actual) education nor nutrition nor healthcare nor housing. And upward mobility? What an outdated concept. This is unprecedented for "developed" countries that aren't wartorn.
Please tell me you did not just travel to a tier-1 city like Beijing or Shanghai, and extrapolated what you saw in the CBD to all of China. There is a reason that they're still desperately clinging to zero-COVID policies when the rest of the world has moved on, against seemingly all common sense.
It became against common sense when Omicron became a thing, and if you understand what the average Chinese person has to go through now to visit relatives in a neighboring city, shop for groceries, or really just to go anywhere... I hope you get the idea. It relies on totalitarian levels of AI + big data surveillance, internal passports, lockdown measures, and completely untenable long term.
If I wasn't being clear, there are 2 major reasons why China refuses to open up: ineffective domestic vaccines and few hospital beds per capita. The CCP fears a total healthcare system collapse and subsequent discontent from its citizens.
The QoL of the bottom 25% of the US is well above the majority of the world. They also have the opportunity to rise, unlike most places.