Having 26 years of "FED" in me and having had friends in the State Department, I can clearly say that the American people have NO IDEA how much taxpayer money goes to "foreign aid". Some of it buys "friends"; some buys food and much goes into the personal pockets of the ruling class. How do you think dictators such as General Noreiga was able to live in splendor for so long...our dollars and his drug business. I'll never understand how our government can give so much to a country such as Somalia, when we have such poverty here in the USA. Money given to a foreign government is gone...GONE...with no accountability. Some of the foreign aid is done under the table...person to person. It comes out of what are called "Slush Funds, Unusual Expenses, etc." Some foreign governments, usually those run by warlords, accept money from any country...USA, Russia, etc. There is no accountability in our systems of government. By the time anyone gets hold of government waste, we're into an new administration and the issue is dropped. While I'm ranting, I once got into an argument with a boss over year-end funds. I was trying to save funds and he was yelling at me that it was his job to spend it so that we'd get the same or more in the next budget. No wonder the USA is broke! Another 1960's story: The manager of a town's vehicle fleet went into an auto parts store at fiscal year's end and bought thousands of dollars worth of hand tools, spark plugs, brooms, spray paint, etc. I was working in the store and got curious because they had just recently made similar purchases. I was told that it was money they had to "use" in order to keep their budget for the coming year. In other words, they were burning money to get money. I didn't like the system then or now. It still goes on.
