Don't be fooled into believing that because a man is rich he is necessarily smart. There is ample proof to the contrary. - Julius Rosenwald

The above quote rightly affirms what we often see in society nowadays. Due to the fast pace of globalization and the lack of a level playing field in market economies, we often hear about how "the rich get richer while the poor get poorer". Part of the reason why the ever-growing upper-class is sustainable over a few generations is because the reins of family-owned companies are passed within the family, thus keeping the wealth within the family. As such, children who are brought up in these affluent households may be exposed to only the "good" in life, which may lead them to being apathetic of the plight of commoners in society.

With reference to the article "The End Of Poverty" written by Jeffrey Sachs, only 5 countries have met the goal of making sufficient contributions (7% of the country's GDP) to cut the world's extreme poverty in half by 2015 as based on the UN Millenium Project. It is already the year 2009, and the progress thus far towards the ultimate goal is rather dismal. This could be attributed to the apathy from developed countries, as even "Western officials argue that Africa simply needs to behave itself better, to allow market forces to operate without interference by corrupt rulers". Perhaps corrupt rulers could be blamed for the current situation in developing countries such as India where women in poor states are given the jobs of carrying away the contents of latrines and the men are simply non-existent. But the fact that these countries lack even decent leadership shows the extent of help that should be rendered to them. After all, corrupt leaders are merely focused on personal wealth and success. Helping developing countries "onto the ladder of development, [giving] them at least a foothold on the bottom rung, from which they can then proceed to climb on their own" doesn't necessarily mean removing such leaders. Barriers of trade could be removed and taxes on imports could be lowered. Such actions that impact the commoners directly (and that from international pressure) could give them the voice and confidence to overthrow corrupt officials.

A man who is rich may not be empathetic towards the poor as he has not experienced what the poor are suffering from - diseases, malnutrition, lack of education, etc. It does not make him dumb for being unable to have a first-hand experience of such living conditions, but it makes him ignorant of the less fortunate should he fail to try to understand what they are going through. Jeffrey Sachs also holds the belief that contributing towards eradicating poverty has a monkey see-monkey do effect, as "the broad public will accept such measures [to achieve the 8 goals of the UN Millenium Project], especially if they see that the rich within their own societies are asked to meet their fair share of the burden". Julius Rosenwald is proof that the contrary to the above quote, that the rich can be smart, exists as well as he founded Rosenwald & Weil Clothiers and used his wealth to establish the Rosenwald Fund for "the well-being of mankind". It was initially targeted at African American education, but later expanded to cover the finances of public schools, colleges and universities, museums, Jewish charities and black institutions, donating over 70 million dollars.

- Melissa, Bryan, Chenxuan, Yongsheng, Shiyang! :D (09S06J)