Yeah, that was my initial, immature reaction too, but it would have been too flippant to ask it of a man who recently recovered his beaten brother from a government prison for dissidents.  

His point is still valid regardless: How can a rich person ever claim to be wise enough to suggest that a poor person is actually better off without the rich person's wealth and not come off as being absurdly self-serving. I challenge anyone to find more than a handful of people who live on less than a dollar a day anywhere in Africa who wouldn't sympathize with pop rapper Travie McCoy.