Just disprove that thesis example... during the Industrial Revolution (early 19th century) there were tons of industrialists who got rich through innovation... Henry Ford, for example.

Or you could do like, slavery (and later the Civil War) stems from the fact that the American colonists were a bunch of overfed snobs who were too lazy to support their own country so they brought in millions of Africans.

It's true.. they had the highest quality of life before and after the Revolution.