Re:US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Ira...
by ZeroGravitas on Tuesday May 12, 2026 @11:46AM
(#48109983)
Musk claimed that USAID was a CIA front as part of his rationale to gut it. A very strange thing for a defense contractor to say out loud.
Re:US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Ira...
by fatbird on Tuesday May 12, 2026 @02:04PM
(#48111914)
I know, this makes me crazy. The response should have been "... and?! You mean the intelligence community has a worldwide network for raking local information that also accrues goodwill to the US, and you want to end that?"
Re:US inflation jumps to 3.8% as energy costs surge from Ira...
by NickC25 on Tuesday May 12, 2026 @03:57PM
(#48113599)
And not only accrues goodwill, it keeps American farmers growing crops that are otherwise unprofitable. US Farmers are too stubborn to keep up with the times, insist on growing crops that there's no domestic demand for (and are heavily subsidized), yet vote in jackasses that are going to take away the only market there is for their crops.
USAID somehow managed to get everyone paid and kept everyone happy. Who gives a shit if it was a CIA front?
US farmers growing otherwise unprofitable crops with no buyer? Check. US exporters being able to export crops? Check. US Aid workers being able to give food to starving people in countries that have huge deposits of rare earth materials? Check. US intelligence apparatus having advanced knowledge of developing situations in strategically important countries? Check. US Aid workers being able deliver tremendous goodwill to countries that China or Russia would love to have their tentacles in? Check.
Everyone's happy, everyone makes money, everyone eats.
Yet Donald Trump and Elon Musk don't like it, so away it goes. And there's no adult in the room to say "no, you're not cutting it, here's why".