In including "circumstances of birth," the parent is implicitly making a division between friends/near family and immediate blood family. Americans usually are willing to help out their direct descendants, often willing to help out their parents and grandparents, and rarely if ever willing to loan money to a nephew or college buddy (more than $50). The reasoning behind this is that business relationships can become incredibly sour, and "never seeing them again" is a pressure release that exists among strangers in New York but not among close family or best friends.