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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let’s be honest—I grew up in a State Department or USAID family (I won’t reveal which for anonymity). My father was in a technical supervisor role, and we lived all over the world. From my firsthand experience, I can say that the lifestyle was far beyond anything we could have had in the U.S., even if we were wealthy.

We basically had our mortgage covered back home by renting out our house while we lived overseas, where our housing was fully paid for. And we weren’t just living in normal homes—these were massive houses with staff: maids, gardeners, and drivers. It was a completely different world. We also traveled frequently, and vacations were either heavily subsidized or fully covered through various allowances. We attended elite American schools that, back home, were only accessible to the ultra-rich, but for us, they were fully funded by U.S. taxpayers.

It was a great lifestyle, no doubt. But it often felt like a fantasy, like a long-term vacation rather than real life. My dad, who was at the equivalent of a GS-15 level, later admitted to me that he only did about 30 minutes of actual work a week. The real purpose of many Americans stationed in these countries seemed more about maintaining a U.S. presence rather than truly making an impact. Embassy life was filled with social events, networking, and parties—it felt like an exclusive club, completely detached from the struggles of the local populations USAID was supposedly there to help.

From my perspective, USAID and similar government programs do fund important projects, but there’s also an enormous amount of waste. The sheer amount of money spent on maintaining the American presence abroad—on housing, benefits, and lifestyles—makes you question whether these funds could be better used elsewhere.

I’m not saying that every single person in USAID is doing nothing, but from what I saw growing up, it was a system that provided an incredibly cushy deal for those involved. It raises the question: how much of this is actually about development, and how much is just about sustaining a privileged American presence overseas?[/quote]

such candor is rare.  thank you [/quote]

+1[/quote]

The wildest part to me is her dad talking literally about hours of work. Truly outlier.

Did your dad talk to you about his work hours?[/quote]

I call BS on that.  She has no idea what her Dad did or how much he worked or how important his work was.  [/quote]

Yeah the story is BS. No diplomat is going to say they only work half an hour a week when everything they do, particularly socially, is "work."[/quote]

Well, to my Dad, the work was the technical task he did once a week, which was like 30 minutes. The rest was waiting for cables, socializing, etc. If you want to call the later work, he worked 10 hours a day. He also ended up drinking a lot because of all the socializing and idle time as he didn't need to do much technical work that required focus.[/quote]

So you grew up in Europe 30-40 years ago with an alcoholic diplomat dad who really milked his position for all he could. Cool story bro.

Tell me what this has to do with the attempted illegal closure of USAID in 2025?[/quote]

If you don’t understand the connection between my real-life experience and why USAID is being shut down, and instead just want to reduce it to labeling my father, then you’re missing the point entirely. This isn’t about one person—it’s about a system that, for decades, functioned more like a taxpayer-funded party than an efficient aid organization. The reality is that this kind of waste, excess, and detachment from actual development work was always unsustainable. The jig is up. If you refuse to see that and want to dismiss firsthand experiences as irrelevant, then you’re just contributing to the ignorance that allowed it to last this long.[/quote]

As a social scientist, I believe these anecdotes are helpful to understand an agency's culture. It's effect is limited because it reflects decades old norms and expectations, a kid's perception, and no real data. But yes, even today staff working in primarily developing countries will be expected to support the local economy through drivers, gardeners, cleaners, and cooks. [/quote]

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