Crusade against corruption was necessary, but completely inadequate to tackling extreme poverty

A distinction should be made between poverty and extreme poverty. Wolfowitz's crusade against corruption was necessary, but completely inadequate to tackling extreme poverty. Extreme poverty an eg in African village comes from a lack of infrastructure: poor roads, no electricity, and poor healthcare. Corruption squanders aid money, but corruption per se isn't the root cause of extreme poverty, which is this lack of infrastructure. China is and was famously corrupt, but this hasn't stopped China's modernization. This example is enough to destroy the simplistic linkage between poverty and corruption.

Anyone who thinks that extreme poverty can be solved overnight be writing of some debts and passing some legislation is lying to themselves. Focus on education.