Capitalismo: un antídoto contra la pobreza (Spanish Version)

"This year we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the birth of Atlas Network, and I am incredibly proud of the great network that has grown and evolved over these four decades, collaborating to grow people's value in freedom and freedom. At the same time, I am also concerned that the great advantages and achievements of freedom are increasingly taken for granted by the younger generations and that we face strong waves of populism from both sides of the political spectrum, both on the right and on the left.

Today more than ever we must make it clear that capitalism and the institutions of a free society are the factors that lead us towards greater social mobility, equality before the law and human dignity for all. I am enormously grateful for the presence of young people like Antonella Marty, who is bringing enormous and renewed energy to this effort for freedom. Today more than ever we must understand that it is in our hands to raise the flags of human freedom and prosperity, and ensure a more prosperous and peaceful future for all." -Brad Lips, CEO of Atlas Network

Human beings live better than at any other time in history. We should begin by asking ourselves what the great secret of homo sapiens has been, how we have managed to establish ourselves in so many different places and how we push other human species towards oblivion. The big question is how and, furthermore, why it was homo sapiens who managed to conquer this special planet called Earth and how he managed to leave the cave and end up founding luminous cities and majestic empires. Extreme poverty, famines, diseases, violence and deaths everywhere were normal throughout the history of our humanity. Extreme poverty, in fact, was the most common human condition for the majority of humans who inhabited our planet. Until very recently, all human beings were below the threshold of extreme poverty and had a life expectancy of no more than 30 or 35 years (if they had luck and managed to survive abundant adversities).

Not long ago this changed: two hundred years ago 90% of all human beings who inhabited our planet were in the category of extreme poverty. Over the years—and since the emergence of capitalism and the ideas that allowed development and innovation—human beings have managed to reduce that figure from 90% to 9% to this day. People have been constantly emerging from poverty for centuries and it is time to open our eyes and admit it once and for all, even though socialism, so worn out in its actions and discourse, wants to ignore it. This whole great process of advances begins its intellectual starting point, largely, between the 17th and 18th centuries with the great Enlightenment and with the foundations of classical liberalism, which represents a stop to the abuses of authoritarianism and a voice of struggle against issues such as , for example, slavery, racism or torture.