Yes.
Sorry, wrong answer.
No, it is you who is wrong. Apply some common sense.
And example: "Those labelled "poor" in America are quite well off compared to the rest of the world. Today's "poor" are better off than average Americans of 1955."
Just this title demonstrates the error of freetraders. The poverty is relative to the local standards, culture, climate etc ...
For example an Indian living in south of future USA a thousand years ago could be barefoot. It did not mean that he was poor. But the similiar Indian living in central Canada who did not have shoes was indeed poor. The life in USA requires different things that are needed in Tahiti.
The definitions of poverty
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
"The quality or state of being poor or indigent; want or scarcity of means of subsistence; indigence; need."
Scottish Poverty Information Unit:
"Poverty is defined relative to the standards of living in a society at a specific time. People live in poverty when they are denied an income sufficient for their material needs and when these circumstances exclude them from taking part in activities which are an accepted part of daily life in that society."
The World Bank Organisation:
"The most commonly used way to measure poverty is based on incomes. A person is considered poor if his or her income level falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. This minimum level is usually called the "poverty line". What is necessary to satisfy basic needs varies across time and societies. Therefore, poverty lines vary in time and place, and each country uses lines which are appropriate to its level of development, societal norms and values."
The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee:
"There are basically three current definitions of poverty in common usage: absolute poverty, relative poverty and social exclusion.
Absolute poverty is defined as the lack of sufficient resources with which to keep body and soul together.
Relative poverty defines income or resources in relation to the average. It is concerned with the absence of the material needs to participate fully in accepted daily life.
Social exclusion is a new term used by the Government. The Prime Minister described social exclusion as "…a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown"."