Keeping people impoverished is a local maximum, not a global one. Yes, we as a people would be better off if we enriched the poor (this is why the middle class

Keeping people impoverished is a local maximum, not a global one. Yes, we as a people would be better off if we enriched the poor (this is why the middle class is so valuable). But it is in the interest of every corporation to make maximum profit (that is, part people from the most money possible) and make people poorer in the individual case. I.E. banks benefit from cycles of debt (mortgage, credit card). It would be better for everyone, including the banks, if the poor were not put in cycles of debt and allowed to become wealthier. But the most profitable thing for a single, individual bank to do is issue predatory loans.