In the halls of Congress, with endless debates over budgets and priorities, there is one issue that gets little attention: the U.S. national debt.
At over $34 trillion and increasing, it’s a ticking time bomb for my generation.
While most lament about President Trump’s cut to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding during his first term, few pause to reflect on the agency’s true efficiency.
The corporate media portrays USAID as a force for good. In reality, it’s a slush fund for political meddling, regime change, and enriching the pockets of connected contractors while our national debt continues to spiral out of control.
But if we really care about global development, we must look away from bloated government programs like USAID and instead look to private charities, free markets, and local communities.
USAID states that it provides life-saving aid to struggling nations, but the reality is otherwise. In 2013, an analysis found that over 70% of USAID funding went into the hands of U.S.-based contractors instead of going directly to the communities it claims to help.
In Afghanistan alone, USAID poured $145 billion into “reconstruction” projects. The result? Roads that collapsed after months, ghost schools that never enrolled a single student, and hundreds of millions of dollars squandered on corruption. Up to 40% of these funds, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) estimated, were lost to waste or corruption.
Twenty years later, the Taliban regained power, and all they had to leave behind was debt and disappointment.
Haiti provides another scandalous example. After the 2010 earthquake, the U.S. invested $4.4 billion in aid, and USAID led the efforts. However, investigative reports uncovered that most of the aid did not reach the typical Haitian. The Clinton Foundation, who was heavily invested in the rebuilding process, faced criticism for offering contracts to politically influential firms, and Haitians were left in poverty.
USAID corruption goes far beyond the misuse of funds—it actively undermines foreign governments in the guise of promoting democracy. In Cuba, USAID covertly developed ZunZuneo, a social network designed to create havoc and topple the Castro regime. In Venezuela, USAID funded millions to opposition forces to destabilize the government at any cost to humanitarian principles.
In Libya, Muammar Gaddafi criticized USAID as a tool of Western imperialism that promoted dependency instead of self-sufficiency. The result of Gaddafi’s assassination in 2011 was a war-torn, terrorist-infested failed state. Open-air slave markets and human trafficking became a revolting norm, and was all dismissed with a snicker by Hillary Clinton and the West.
While USAID makes foreign elites richer, it makes American taxpayers poorer at home. The U.S. spends over $50 billion annually on foreign aid while domestic infrastructure crumbles and schools remain unfunded.
This unchecked spending contributes billions to the national debt, which my generation will be forced to pay.
As Ron Paul, former senator, once said, “Foreign aid is taking money from the poor people of a rich country and giving it to the rich people of a poor country.”
Many ask, if USAID is so corrupt, why don’t Americans hear about it?
Easy: By paying media outlets, USAID ensures that its own corruption goes unchecked. Politico, for instance, receives $8 million annually from USAID, so it is no surprise that the publication never seriously covers the agency.
Other USAID grant recipients include NPR, BBC Media Action, and a handful of other news organizations. If an outlet has connections in favor of USAID, of course they’re going to label something a conspiracy theory because it has little incentive to write about the corruption of the agency.
This control of the media extends globally. USAID has supported propaganda operations in Bangladesh, Venezuela, and Ukraine, with a tendency to fabricate lies to justify U.S. interventions. “Humanitarian aid” is the fig leaf of morality for anything short of moral acts.
Critics argue that abolishing USAID will result in the death of millions of people. This assumes governments are the only entities capable of providing aid, which has been shown not to be true.
Private charities and local organizations consistently exceed government-run programs. The Gates Foundation has immunized millions against lethal diseases without the political fallout of USAID’s work. Doctors Without Borders provide essential healthcare with unprecedented efficiency over their government counterparts. Why? Because charities operate on outcomes to keep donations, whereas USAID operates on taxpayer dollars no matter what.
True charity is voluntary, not coerced. Government aid breeds waste, corruption, and dependency, while private charities achieve more with less. The state should protect liberty, not redistribute wealth under the guise of compassion.
And as for the national debt, it’s not just some abstract worry; it’s a generational disaster. Each dollar we send to USAID is a dollar we don’t invest in America’s future. If we want a prosperous, secure future, then we must put an end to the charade of corrupt and inept government bureaucracies.
USAID is just the beginning. Make the world aware of it for what USAID truly is: a corrupt, propaganda, and political interference vehicle disguising itself as aid. This isn’t about being heartless—it’s about reality. Private charities, community organizations, and free-market systems are more effective and accountable than a bloated,corrupt government bureaucracy.
Reducing USAID is not about abandoning the world—it’s about putting an end to a racket that enriches elites at the expense of the American people and those it is meant to help.
