It's not even about if THIS specific strategy would work in America, it's that China approached the problem in Good Faith, in an attempt to make a genuine improvement.

In America, about the best we could hope for would be passing a bill and a budget for an issue, and then it's considered fixed. No accountability, no objectives. And that's the best case scenario.

Worst case scenario is that the whole legislation is a scam to shift money from the Treasury to private pockets. It's a about 3:1 in favor of this strategy, no matter who is in office.

We don't do anything with a Good Faith commitment to solving a problem. It's always about self-aggrandizing, poking the other guy in the eye, or stealing as much money as possible.

This is a great overview of poverty alleviation! What's the source for the video?

I doubt it's that no one thought about it. CIA has ops everywhere, and has always had the best spying apparatus available. It's probably that we knew and lied. As always.