Countries with strong social safety nets, like Scandinavia, have some of the highest standards of living, longest life expectancies, and happiest populations in the world. That's Democratic socialism.
Neoliberalism hasn't "lifted nations out of poverty", it's increased inequality and instability for decades. If you remove China from the stats this is startlingly clear - and China is hardly pure capitalism/a free market.
And meanwhile, the planet is burning, we're losing species at extinction rates not far off asteroid levels, we've put plastic and PFAS into the entire biosphere making even rainwater unsafe to drink, etc.
> Mrs Thatcher was smart enough to recognize that
Thatcher increased poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Saying otherwise requires incredible delusion.