There is a good documentary by the name Poverty, Inc that explores the west's approach to foreign aid. It is currently on USA Netflix if you have that. It convinces me that our current approach to foreign aid is flawed. In most cases it hurts more than it helps.

I do wonder if not having anything on the line contributes to our blind spots in this area. If something doesn't affect us, it takes much longer to realize when things have gone very wrong.

Sure, someone who says "Do as I say, not as I do" can have good advice, but at the end of a day, a doctor who wont take his own medicine is suspect in my mind.