Wealth really does trickle down and that is the problem. In needs to flow down it needs to be a torrent not a trickle.

there is more than enough money (75 trillion is the annual world GDP, approximately 15 trillion in the US alone) to pay for a good home, clothing, and food for every family worldwide

Unfortunately this is not true. If everyone got an equal share of the Global GDP it would amount to about $10,000 per person per year. For everyone in the developed world that would be below the poverty line.

Yes, there are alternatives. Alternatives where to poor are not disadvantaged but you can’t make everyone middle class even if the rich gave away everything and if everyone was middle class the destruction of the environment would accelerate.

The real solution would be for everyone to live like a poor ascetic and give away their excess.

TEK