So, I was reading a link from a friend of mine's blog, and the following fact arrested my attention:
 
"Three decades ago, the people in well-to-do countries were 30 times better off than those in countries where the poorest 20 percent of the world's people live. By 1998, this gap had widened to 82 times."
 
Let me rephrase that for y'all: in 1968, the well-to-do were 30 times better off than the poorest, and in 1998 the well-to-do were 82 times better off than the poorest.  From 30 to 82 is nearly three times better off (2.6 something to be more precise).
 
Now I'm going to go out on a major limb here and make a wild assumption.  I don't expect that the poorest people on Earth can have gotten that much poorer - otherwise they simply wouldn't be able to survive.  They're pretty much already at subsistence levels and have been so for a long time.
 
Which leads me to the conclusion that we in the first world have gotten a whole lot better off in thirty years.  A basic list would include microwaves, cell phones, and computers; vastly improved planes, cars, and tvs; all the advances brought on by the space race (such as the materials used in wheelchairs); medical technologies such as heart surgery, organ transplants, sonograms, CAT and MRI scanners, DNA related tests and therapies, those little camera scopes that enable surgery without opening you up like a Christmas turkey, the rich and varied supply of drugs now commonly available, and the list just keeps going on (all those advances in dentristry, for example!).
 
And, the reality is that we've brought many of those advances to the poorest in the form of medical clinics, generic drugs, foreign aid, and business investments.  So, the poorest have - to some degree - benefitted from our massive advances.
 
This is NOT to say that there isn't a big gap between us and them.  It is not to say that a little from us can't do a great deal for them.  It isn't to say that we should not do more.  But it is to say that we shouldn't feel guilty for the increase in the gap. 
 
We haven't taken more from the slice of the pie of the world's poorest .... We have gone out and made 2.6 more pies!  As we give from those extra pies, the poorest have more than they had thirty years ago.
 
So, two challenges for you.  1) Given that you're 82 times better off than the poorest in the world, yes, it would be appropriate for you to be purposeful about sharing more of what you have. But 2) Go forth and work hard, using the intelligence God gave you, to create and advance what we have here!
 
Think about it this way.  The previous generation(s), using the resources given to them, were able to increase their portion by 2.6 (from 30 to 82) times, while helping the poorest of the world.  For us to just match them would mean that in 2037 we would be 302 times better off than the poorest of the world.  And we can do a lot more now to help them, so that's even more of a challenge.
 
Future post: pie-chart economics for the intellectually hungry.  BYOM (bring your own milk).
 
Thor