Or because of unbelievable amounts of rights won through political struggle, which cannot be spent, only lost through getting complacent. Europe was a lot poor

Or because of unbelievable amounts of rights won through political struggle, which cannot be spent, only lost through getting complacent. Europe was a lot poorer in the 80's. China today has a higher GDP-per-capita then the EU did in the 80's. India has a higher GDP-per-capita than the EU had in the 70's. If you have a decent political culture, you don't need a lot of money to avoid the worst kinds of poverty.