Robert Heinlein: Poverty is the normal condition of man

We know enough about poverty and development to know the broader policies that work, but more importantly the many that do not. As Glenn Reynolds points out, this is a dictum worth repeating (Instapundit):

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”