That is the question everyone should keep in the back of their heads: How did poverty suddenly start to decline, long before socialism and other pretend-altruistic philosophies could ruin people's minds? My preliminary answer is the absence of absolute power and competition between small and culturally similar jurisdictions in central and western Europe in the early modern period and into the Industrial Revolution. Collectivism has been on the rise ever since the latter half of the 19th century and even though it has severely hampered human progress, wherever there was but a sliver of market-oriented economic action, people have been able to thrive in a way collectivist regimes only manage to facilitate for small, distinct groups by violently expropiating individuals not part of those same groups.

The man himself might not be what he's cracked up to be but his motto is timeless:

¡Viva la libertad, carajo!