"Most of the countries that did get a lot of aid are not success stories," says New York University economics professor William Easterly.

"The most successful poverty reduction program in the world right now is letting people cross the US border...and that’s a very basic way we could help a lot of Haitians right now is just let in more legal Haitian immigrants to escape poverty."

"We need a stronger development agency, some voice in the US government, a strong voice that can speak up for poverty reduction, global development, and carry that out in an effective way. We don’t have that right now."

Watch more of Bob Abernethy's conversation with Rabbi Jack Moline about the theological questions raised by natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake.

That those on the margins, for whom Hebrew and Christian scriptures declare God’s special affinity, could only peek through the cracks of the State of the Union address says more about us than the president.

"I think King would make a case for the principles and practices of nonviolence even in settling disputes between nations," says Cheryl Sanders, professor of Christian ethics at Howard University School of Divinity and senior pastor at Third Street Church of God in Washington, DC.

Watch excerpts from Bread for the World’s November 23 press conference in Washington, DC on creating jobs that will fight poverty and climate change.

Today there are two million inmates in US prisons and jails, and according to social policy analyst Eric Cadora our overdependence on criminal justice is threatening our cities, communities, and neighborhoods.

"We're feeding people now who are employed full time and can't make ends meet … There's been an outpouring of generosity from people saying I want to make sure my neighbors don't starve."

"Our job is to take an illiterate woman and make her into an engineer in six months," says social activist Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College. Students come from villages across India and a dozen other countries.