Professor Death and his readers nail it.

[wombat_socho]

Instapundit:

POST INDEPENDENCE-DAY THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
From Robert Heinlein:

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.”

I’m just sayin’.

UPDATE: A bunch of readers email: “Unexpectedly!”