Opening film draws criticism. Some people who sat through the screening of the film say they found it offensive both overly simplistic and exploitative of human misery. There is surely nothing new in observing that the rich have much and the poor have little. There is no question but that the poor are very much with us.
Billions suffer from malnutrition and lack access to clean water and basic sanitation.
On the other hand, nobody here in Davos can or should try to define the level of relative deprivation that separates dignity from indignity. Neither can anyone ignore the efforts currently under way to provide such help by agencies of the United Nations, by the World Bank, through bilateral aid from donor countries and from nongovernmental organizations like Oxfam or the Red Cross. Nor can anyone ignore the sad history of such aid and how rarely it has resulted in solid, long-term improvements in people's lives. No longer are people discounting the self-evident fact that it is not government but business that is the engine that can generate the wealth needed to improve living standards. For people who live in places where such standards are taken for granted, that seems only proper.