USAID-funded NGOs are wasteful government cronyism that should be eliminated
Source: Chris Bray. "Mourning Loss Of USAID, NYT Makes Clear Case For Its Death." April 24, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that foreign aid organizations like USAID are basically scams where people get paid huge salaries with taxpayer money to do useless work overseas. He thinks these organizations should be shut down because they're just government cronies pretending to be independent while wasting money on obvious advice like 'eat healthy food.'
Conclusion
USAID and its funded NGOs represent wasteful government cronyism that performs no real function and should be permanently eliminated
Premises
- NGOs like CNFA are supposedly 'non-governmental' but receive 99.8% of their funding from government sources
- These organizations pay executives extremely high salaries ($607,666 base salary for CEO) for trivial work
- The actual services provided are absurdly basic and condescending (telling people in Niger to 'eat nutritious food')
- Administrative costs vastly exceed actual program delivery ($28M on salaries vs $4M on grants)
- The work described in their reports appears to have no meaningful impact or necessity
Assumptions
- High executive salaries in aid organizations indicate waste and corruption
- Government funding of NGOs constitutes illegitimate cronyism
- Simple advice about nutrition has no value in developing countries
- Private markets would better address development needs than government-funded NGOs
- Administrative overhead ratios are the primary measure of organizational effectiveness