USAID

What is USAID? It's a federal agency that costs less than one half of one percent of the federal budget (2023 figures here). What is USAID? An organization that saves thousands of lives around the world. And for those who fancy themselves as committed to Realpolitik, and so couldn't care less about the preceding, it is a critical actor in projecting American soft power abroad.

Is it flawed and imperfect? Tell me what state or federal agency isn't? Is there some fraud and waste? Of course. You can't have thousands of payments go to actors on the ground in some of the poorest countries in the world without some level of abuse. Policy experts understand this, and try to manage it (see Jonathan Wolff, Ethics and Public Policy, 2nd ed., which I use to teach at Rutgers University). But the benefits are deemed to far exceed these costs. Cost-benefit analyses are how good policies and programs are forged. Well, at least that's how they used to be.

(Disclosure: I have zero association with USAID or any government employee associated with it.)