State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid | Hacker News Reader

State Department issues immediate, widespread pause on foreign aid

politico.com

27 pointswertyk4 comments

As someone who works for the federal government, I'm surrounded by waste. Untold millions of dollars of it; the sum total accounting for millions of Americans' worth of tax revenue. I'm also surrounded by chair warmers, who at best do nothing, and when they don't they create negative value. Some of us try to get things done despite this, but I've been on projects where the host is so loaded with parasitic mass, that that's impossible.

It's long past time to take out the trash.

Since you're downvote, this not be a popular view.

It is the nature of bureaucracies to bloat, public or private, changing their aim from why they were originally created to self-propagation.

_Systemantics_ (aka _The Systems Bible_) is a great read on the topic, surpassing even Parkinson's essays (and as easy to read)

https://www.amazon.com/Systems-Bible-Beginners-Guide-Large/d...

https://www.amazon.com/Parkinsons-Law-C-Northcote-Parkinson-...

...does provide some exceptions. It specifies that foreign military financing for Egypt and Israel will continue and allows emergency food assistance and “legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this” guidance “under existing awards.” At points, it also says the decisions need to be “consistent with the terms of the relevant award.”

One current State Department official, plus two former Biden administration officials, said the pause appears to stop aid to key allies such as Ukraine, Jordan and Taiwan.

It’s gonna be real funny when China invades Taiwan and ends up tanking the US stock market — which is of course Trump’s favorite proxy for his own notional success. /s

Meanwhile don’t forget that Egypt allegedly funneled millions of dollars into Trump’s pockets illegally https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/foi...

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