Paul Darling

I feel terrible for anyone who loses their job. I’m not trying to kick anyone while they’re down. But these USAID and NGO workers are the least sympathetic unemployed people I’ve ever seen. EVERY person in this story was making well into six figures: USAID employee: $175,000 USAID contractor: $127,000 USAID-funded NGO employee: $272,000(!) USAID advisor at the DOD: $195,000 USAID contractor: $200,000 There were 16,000 employees at USAID, and the New York Times was only able to interview one making less than $175k. Worldwide, there were an estimated 280,000 contractors. ALL of these people were getting paid from our tax dollars. Many were making 2-4x the wage of the average American taxpayer ($65-70k per year). Yes, USAID did some good work, especially during the Cold War. And, yes, many of the agency’s employees were hard-working Americans, with good intentions and love for their country. Again, we should take no joy in seeing thousands of people lose their livelihoods—this is not a case of justifiable schadenfreude. But it’s not sustainable for an agency with so little accountability to manage tens of billions of dollars per year, enriching tens of thousands of NGO-industrial-complex managers living in the DC/Maryland/Virginia metroplex in the process. Even the NYT acknowledges that “there was bloat and waste in the agency and a need for reform. Much of the $35 billion [USAID] managed in 2024 went to Washington-based contractors, not directly to people in need overseas. The success of many projects was hard to measure.” Every last dollar that went to these highly paid employees was funded by an American taxpayer, the vast majority of whom make far less money than the people laid off from USAID. We have the right to demand accountability, and we have the right to expect that these funds will be spent in our interest, not theirs. USAID and its thousands of employees, contractors, and NGO beneficiaries ignored that principle, and they eventually paid the price with their careers. I wish them all nothing but the best, but I won’t mourn that they will no longer be making $200k per year on the backs of American workers.

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Deferring pension contributions is the Pandora's box of municipal finance, where a seemingly harmless action unleashes a legacy of complications. Once that seal is broken, NYC will start the descent into the same liability-fueled spiral that has hollowed out so many other cities.