If you are born into poverty, the chances are good that your children will be born into poverty. Find a way to give poor kids the same cognitive stimulus that rich kids receive, and they should end up with the same tools for success.

Maybe the perceived fact that smart, rich parents tended to have smart, rich kids was largely due to the fact that they also tended to have stay-at-home moms or nannies who read to their kids, held them, put mobiles over their cribs, playing those annoying ditties, and sent them off for SAT training at six months.

Rich, smart parents tend to have rich, smart kids - not because it's genetic but because they can create a home environment and sensory stimulation that lower-income kids often don't get.

Those who have won the ovarian lottery by being born in an advanced society to loving parents have a special obligation to help restore the American Dream.