How would the problem of poverty be dealt with in a free society?

Although a true large-scale free-market society has never been permitted to come into existence, the historical evidence is overwhelming that even the limited capitalism tolerated in Western economies since the Enlightenment has produced remarkable improvements in living standards for the masses. In contrast, the poverty of the common people in socialist states such as Cuba, North Korea, or the recently Communist republics of the former USSR is inconceivable to relatively pampered Americans. The dire circumstances of the citizens of such countries explains why so many thousands of them endure great risks and hardships in attempting to escape from the scourge of socialism. This poverty is all the more striking because socialism purportedly arises from a humanitarian concern for the welfare of the "common man." What socialist theory fails to recognize is that the less able individuals in any society are by definition dependent on the productiveness of the more able. Consequently, any system that is injurious to the lives, freedom, or productivity of individuals of ability will inevitably be harmful to the less able as well. Moreover, socialist systems destroy any incentive for less able persons to discover or develop their own abilities, thus becoming less helpless and less dependent.