I do not think the example is strong enough. Singer is trying, but the child in the pond is right in front of our eyes. There is no excuse such as, I didn't see it, or I did not know about it. A child in dyer straights like the one that is drowning in front of us generates a spontaneous reaction. 

But how often do we see the faces of the children that suffer from starvation? In general when one Organization or another puts an add on TV asking for monetary help, and there we can find all kinds of excuses. We change the channel, decide on a bathroom break and later put it to the back of our minds and burry it there. Not forget about it, but it is not right in our face anymore. 

It is our moral responsibility to prevent a bad situation from happening, but we have all learned over time to close our minds and therefore our conscience to the suffering that happens all over the world, because it is not right in our face every minute of every day. 

When it comes to the value of luxury items, there is the question of what is luxury? A family night out for someone who only makes $20,000 a year is a luxury to that person. To someone who makes $200,000 a year it is a normal thing.  What I have found though is, that people that have little themselves, are much more willing and likely to part with their last five dollar bill to help somebody  than people who don't have to worry about where their next meal is coming from. People who can relate to suffering have a greater understanding than people who never had to give up on anything they wanted. If we would all do our share, we would not be in a position to worry about giving up on luxury. Because if everybody gave something it would be enough.

Let's start with the overproduction of food. Why burn butter in one country if you can feed people with it in another? An economist would tell you because that keeps the price from going down. People starve and suffer, not because we don't have enough, but because some people never make enough and what we have too much of is not distributed to the people who need it.