Many have linked being poor to being stupid.

Under the so-called Treaty of Versailles the nation of Germany experienced extreme poverty. Jewish born Germans had the majority of the wealth and good jobs.

With the rise of the National Socialists the world saw the German economy go from complete basket case to the envy of the entire world in just a few short years. The world also saw Germany leap far ahead of the rest of the world in technology.

With Jewish born Germans doing so well under the Treaty of Versailles most Germans were very poor. But these same Germans could not have been stupid because they were able to make Germany the greatest nation on earth in just a few short years.

The National Socialists fired most Jewish born Germans that had not fought for Germany during WW1 and some that had. Replacing these Jewish born Germans with Teuton born Germans helped the nation turn everything around. Of course the true economic leadership of Hitler and the National Socialist party is the major reason the German economy was able to be transformed from basket case to envy of the world in such a short period but it is clear that all of those Germans living in extreme poverty were not stupid at all. It is clear that the German poor were being held back and being prevented from offering society their full potential.

The wealthy Jewish born Germans that ended up losing all of their wealth were not stupid just because all of a sudden they found themselves having to shine shoes for a living.  I do not agree that Jewish people were to blame for inflation and of course how Jewish people were treated under the National Socialists was horrific. The fact that changes were able to be made to society to make it work should not have included removing citizenship of Jewish born Germans but it is clear that those that were living in poverty under the treaty were not poor due to being stupid.

The west used to call developing and emerging nations 'second world and third world'. Us first world citizens have been led to believe that we have so much wealth in the first world because we are more intelligent. Obviously this was absurd. The advantage of the first world was that we were the victors of WW2 that defeated the German National Socialists. We were able to design a global economy that gives us in the west, and especially the USA great advantage over every other nation. It had nothing to do with how smart we are.

China was one of the poor nations that we westerners considered ourselves smarter than. It is funny to me to see China now doing so well and to compare the academic results of the 'advanced' west with students from China. Chinese people are the smartest. (:

I do not think that there is a direct link between being poor and stupid like so many others do. In my opinion being poor is a genuine disadvantage that often prevents the true potential of an individual from being realized. Also, the expectations that society has for people influences the expectations that people have for themselves.

I think the rise of modern China and the rise of National Socialist Germany have certain parallels. To me both economic miracles are proof that society should have higher expectations for the poor and that the reasons for poverty are often nothing at all to do with intelligence but other factors.