After both events, the public's generosity was enormous. Winfrey and Freeman both used their star power to focus attention on those who were suffering.
Mr Zoellick will have to convince donors that the bank's best work is often its least showy, filling in the gaps left by other aid-givers keen to boast about their own generosity.
High personal taxes and generous welfare benefits-which pay people who lose their jobs as much as 80% of previous incomes for three years-discourage work.
No matter how hard up and frugal my friends themselves were, they would unstintingly share with me whatever they had, although they knew I would not be able to repay them for their kindness.