Will USAID really be permanently shut down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m disgusted by the level of grift. Who is the auditor of USAID?

Democrats want to keep as much as possible secret, like who all was on the USAID board besides Samantha Powers??

So ridiculous. USAID is audited. Every single project is a) chosen by the US government and b) competitively bid and awarded. Then those projects have to report. It wasn't that long ago that some corruption was identified and an entire contractor was shut down (AED). When something is truly corrupt, USAID found it. In 2008 the mortgage industry screwed over the entire country and basically sent us into a depression and we were like, "okay, you get a second chance" and gave them a pile of money. Are you serious that USAID, which essentially provides humanitarian services, is a 'grift'? GTFOH.

Yeah. It was a grift along with the good programs. CIA was working with USAID on certain projects. Funding trans parties and operas overseas is ideological and has no discernible benefits. I worked with NGO people for years overseas and they could be jaded. They all had wild stories about USAID. You claim projects were competitively bid, but what if the only bidders are corrupt construction companies in XYZ developing country who do a mediocre job requiring replacement in a few years by an equivalently corrupt company owned by the country's president's son in law.... you're not left with much option.

Sorry, but you clearly know nothing about USAID and its wide range of projects. Also, what is a "trans parties"? is that even English? Let's face it, there isn't an institution in the US that doesn't have its good parts and bad parts. But for the most part, it did good. Delivered books and teacher training, HIV medicines, helped train women so that they could contribute economically - most of it worked. You say I "claim projects were competitively bid, but what if the only bidders are corrupt construction companies in XYZ developing country who do a mediocre job requiring replacement in a few years by an equivalently corrupt company owned by the country's president's son in law.." Before Elon shut down all the data on USAID, you could have looked this up pretty easily. You don't know what you are talking about but keep babbling, my good sir.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


USAID was attacked by Musk first because USAID’s IG was investigating Musk and Starlink..

So Musk had all the IGs fired.

Then he accessed the classified info—probably about Ukrainian positions.

Musk turned Starlink off for drones when Ukraine was trying to mount an attack against Russia. Just because.

Russia “mysteriously” got its hands on Starlink. Hmmm, I wonder how that happened!!

http://oig.usaid.gov/node/6814

Yup. Musk was so keen to brand 10,000 employees of USAID as criminals because they were investigating one of his contracts for corruption …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, once the programs are stopped, it’ll be so hard and expensive to restart. So whether it will be restarted or not, major damage has already been done, including the US reputation as a development partner.

The reputational damage is phenomenal. Thousands of country staffers who had contracts to provide security, translation, logistics and program delivery fired over night. Outstanding invoices for services rendered unpaid. To say nothing for the way Rubio and Trump were silent as they fired thousands of civil servants while Musk called them criminals.

Trump and Musk are following their corporate playgroup of stiffing the people working for them. Too bad he’s dragging down the reputation of the USA with him. They could have followed a normal process through Congress to reduce or defund USAId in an orderly fashion. Instead they made the entire world look at us as a banana republic and untrustworthy partner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m disgusted by the level of grift. Who is the auditor of USAID?

Democrats want to keep as much as possible secret, like who all was on the USAID board besides Samantha Powers??

So ridiculous. USAID is audited. Every single project is a) chosen by the US government and b) competitively bid and awarded. Then those projects have to report. It wasn't that long ago that some corruption was identified and an entire contractor was shut down (AED). When something is truly corrupt, USAID found it. In 2008 the mortgage industry screwed over the entire country and basically sent us into a depression and we were like, "okay, you get a second chance" and gave them a pile of money. Are you serious that USAID, which essentially provides humanitarian services, is a 'grift'? GTFOH.

Yeah. It was a grift along with the good programs. CIA was working with USAID on certain projects. Funding trans parties and operas overseas is ideological and has no discernible benefits. I worked with NGO people for years overseas and they could be jaded. They all had wild stories about USAID. You claim projects were competitively bid, but what if the only bidders are corrupt construction companies in XYZ developing country who do a mediocre job requiring replacement in a few years by an equivalently corrupt company owned by the country's president's son in law.... you're not left with much option.

USAID doesn't fund much construction nowadays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m disgusted by the level of grift. Who is the auditor of USAID?

Democrats want to keep as much as possible secret, like who all was on the USAID board besides Samantha Powers??

So ridiculous. USAID is audited. Every single project is a) chosen by the US government and b) competitively bid and awarded. Then those projects have to report. It wasn't that long ago that some corruption was identified and an entire contractor was shut down (AED). When something is truly corrupt, USAID found it. In 2008 the mortgage industry screwed over the entire country and basically sent us into a depression and we were like, "okay, you get a second chance" and gave them a pile of money. Are you serious that USAID, which essentially provides humanitarian services, is a 'grift'? GTFOH.

Yeah. It was a grift along with the good programs. CIA was working with USAID on certain projects. Funding trans parties and operas overseas is ideological and has no discernible benefits. I worked with NGO people for years overseas and they could be jaded. They all had wild stories about USAID. You claim projects were competitively bid, but what if the only bidders are corrupt construction companies in XYZ developing country who do a mediocre job requiring replacement in a few years by an equivalently corrupt company owned by the country's president's son in law.... you're not left with much option.

USAID doesn't fund much construction nowadays.

These days they don't fund much of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m confused about lack of concern for US soft power? I would assume they would care about that.

They don’t understand what that is and their followers definitely don’t either.

[Anonymous]

The further this goes the harder it is to undo. If it goes past admin leave, there is no plausible pathway to everybody getting their job back. Not by congress, not by court.

This is some of why they are pushing to get people back from overseas so fast. Pull them back then many quit and they claim no money to return them.

The lawsuits should have been filed with the first wave of 50 on admin leave. It went too far too fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The further this goes the harder it is to undo. If it goes past admin leave, there is no plausible pathway to everybody getting their job back. Not by congress, not by court.

This is some of why they are pushing to get people back from overseas so fast. Pull them back then many quit and they claim no money to return them.

The lawsuits should have been filed with the first wave of 50 on admin leave. It went too far too fast.

Aren't they letting pretty much everyone go (except for about 300 people?).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry to my USAID colleagues. I’ve worked with many of you in the past and you all were examples of true commitment to public service. And that is unfortunately why you are being targeted. These people know nothing of service to others. I hope a suit is filed soon.

Yes, I echo this. My husband worked in international relief for over a decade and the people are just the best people. So passionate about helping those less fortunate around the world respond to devastating natural disasters and other crises. My father worked with the Ford Foundation alongside the very first group of Peace Corps volunteers in India in the 1960s. It is not a glamorous life anymore.

Does anyone know what will happen to the Peace Corps? Is it in the State Dept? My daughter is heading to college next year and was hoping to become a PCV afterwards.

+1 I’m so sorry for all the dedicated people at USAID and NGOs who are being targeted. You have many many supporters who understand and appreciate all the good you do in the world. The US will only suffer as a result of this blow to foreign assistance, from weakened national security to diseases that will reach our shores. Even if you think only of the US and not the millions abroad who will die as a result, it is lunacy.

[Anonymous]

I remember a documentary some time ago about usaid
That food that is shipped to an African country facing famine has to be sent via us contractors and they charge a hefty fee, more than any other company.
In the end very little of the aid trickles down to the needy.
The usaid that is given to South Africa is $440 million. Of that 17 percent is used to fund the aids program. The rest is siphoned to other aid agencies and to fund the government security fees for corrupt politicians. So again little trickles down.
It has been used by politicians to flood some markets with cheap white flour, killing the market for small farmers who grow the more nutritious local wheat. This kills the farming sector. Making the country more dependent on usaid and in politics more dependent to be a yay sayer to US politics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I remember a documentary some time ago about usaid
That food that is shipped to an African country facing famine has to be sent via us contractors and they charge a hefty fee, more than any other company.
In the end very little of the aid trickles down to the needy.
The usaid that is given to South Africa is $440 million. Of that 17 percent is used to fund the aids program. The rest is siphoned to other aid agencies and to fund the government security fees for corrupt politicians. So again little trickles down.
It has been used by politicians to flood some markets with cheap white flour, killing the market for small farmers who grow the more nutritious local wheat. This kills the farming sector. Making the country more dependent on usaid and in politics more dependent to be a yay sayer to US politics

Is that the 60 minutes segment from a while ago? I bet 60 minutes wouldn't re-air that now.

[Anonymous]

Here is an excellent speech on what twas found its nuts
This has millons of views so Americans think it's a big deal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not up for supporting the mission of USAID. It's time we bring it in and cease the wastage.

+1. Let’s focus on solving some of our own problems before we solve the world’s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not up for supporting the mission of USAID. It's time we bring it in and cease the wastage.

+1. Let’s focus on solving some of our own problems before we solve the world’s.

Clearly you don’t understand how it works. The world’s problems ARE our problems- security, disease, climate, immigration - they impact all of us here in the U.S. Did the Covid pandemic not teach us anything?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not up for supporting the mission of USAID. It's time we bring it in and cease the wastage.

+1. Let’s focus on solving some of our own problems before we solve the world’s.

Clearly you don’t understand how it works. The world’s problems ARE our problems- security, disease, climate, immigration - they impact all of us here in the U.S. Did the Covid pandemic not teach us anything?

Some evidence shows that we actually funded the creation of the vaccine by grants and aid if it were created in the Chinese lab as noted by the recent reports.