But social spending is for US, the people! We would do well to question WHERE and HOW our tax $$$ are squandered in dubious aid to dictators and corrupt foreign governments. Take it from one who knows. They end up mostly in mock ‘uplift’ programs conjured by third rate American consultants who are paid top $$! Locals are paid a fraction of that. USAID so-called consultants are flown business class, stay in 5 star hotels, produce tawdry ‘deliverables,’ strut around with a train of bodyguards and head on home with fat pockets. The ‘aid,’ a lot of it, comes right back to our benevolent country. Expenses are paid for by hosts.

An anomaly amongst consultants was a remarkable man, ironically killed by an American drone strike on a Taliban camp where he was being held after being kidnapped by them. Well, CIA isn’t known for sound intel, is it?

Suspiciously, he was brutally kidnapped the morning he was to leave for home. Who tipped whom off??? We will never know. Perhaps he knew too much and wasn’t supposed to come home. His health issues were dire. Apparently his medical needs were taken care of by his captors, who wanted a ransom. His family’s pleas fell on deaf usa ears.

This man was the true architect of authentic uplift programs which galvanized sleepy sectors of economy like mining, dairy etc, into action. He spoke all regional languages of his host country and rumor was he was CIA!

As I said, he was an anomaly. A dynamo of a man. It didn’t take long before infighting and govt. meddling destroyed all he helped bring to life.