Sachs then began his talk by recommending Soros' new book, Open Society: The Crisis of Global Capitalism Reconsidered.

"He's gotten it almost all right. I want to guide you to its ultimate conclusion," he said, earning a laugh from an audience so diverse it seemed that every country mentioned in the discussion might have had a representative.

Sachs said that global capitalism neglected the needs of the world's poorest countries.

"Globalization is not delivering benefits to a large part of the world," Sachs said. "There are two billion people at the absolute bottom. Ten to 15 million of them die needless deaths every year from preventable diseases."

They're not at the edge of survival, they're falling off every day," he said." "They don't even have the benefit of a financial crisis because no one gave them finances. They just suffer."

He argued vehemently against the IMF's loan system, which he said favored American interests.

"The role of the IMF is to keep poor people away from U.S. taxpayers," he said. "You used to send in the British Army, now you send in the IMF. The U.S. runs [the IMF] for its own interests. We're so cheap, we're faking it with those institutions."