United States Agency For International Development - USAID

USAID is, well...kinda U.S. Aid for development: the United States Agency For International Development.

USAID is all about economic development and foreign aid to increase the quality of living (and the quantity of living, since “saving lives” is on their roster, too). Oh, and furthering “America’s interests,”...which means copy-pasting American-style free-ish markets and democratic-ish systems abroad.

While USAID is the largest agency of its kind in the world, it makes up a really small part of government spending. In 2016, it was 0.0008%, so cutting foreign aid and development projects completely would only let the government pocket 8/10,000 of a percent of the total US budget.

USAID was created in the 1960s under JFK as a way to combine many already-existing foreign assistance programs. Today, it has missions in over one hundred countries...pretty much in all major areas except Western Europe, Australia, and the North and South poles...for now. From what we hear, the polar bears and penguins could use some ice development and aid.

As the world gets increasingly global, USAID becomes increasingly important. Internationally affected food chains and globally traveling infectious diseases are bad news...but USAID can help.