By Archie Dicksion
In this era of government shutdowns, it is wise to ask, are our elected officials in Washington spending the money they collect from us in taxes each year wisely? Well, if we look at the money they give to foreign countries in the form of aid each year, as reported by the World Bank, probably not. Let’s take a typical U. S. foreign aid recipient, El Salvador, as an example.
A Google search revealed the following result:
“The U.S. provided approximately $221.2 million in foreign assistance to El Salvador for Fiscal Year 2024. This total, provided by various government agencies, supports goals such as safe communities, preventing gender-based violence, advancing human rights, and economic development.”
A portion of this aid was for the purpose of controlling immigration from that country to the United States. This is money taken from U.S. taxpayers and U.S. businesses. But in trying to determine whether these funds are being used in a proper manner, several questions arise.
- What government agency oversees the use of these funds in the foreign country?
- What agency in the foreign country actually receives the funds?
- How are their disbursements supervised to ensure they are used for their intended purpose as opposed to going into the pocket of some official in that government?
The population of El Salvador is 2.9 million people. Their average education grade level is the 6th grade and family income is approximately $300.00 per month. Now if my calculation is correct, that amounts to $56.00 per person, not enough to make any substantial difference int the daily lives of those 3 million people as it amounts to only about 15 cents each per day.
The bottom line is that we really have no way of determining whether the moneys sent by the U. S. are used as intended. What is happening with El Salvador is typical. The same challenges are found throughout Latin America. The one agency that was supposed to help with this matter, USAID, has been recently closed, apparently because of corruption.
Official foreign aid is only the tip of the iceberg. Individual remittances are a much greater concern. According to the World Bank, the amount of remittances to El Salvador in 2024 was 8.5 billion dollars. The official aid of 221 million dollars pales in comparison.
The Aid and the remittances are U.S. dollars that never come into the economic flow of the United States. It is hard to understand why remittances are not taxed, at least in some degree, to offset the financial drain on the United States economy.
The question we have to ask ourselves is what benefit does the United States receive from El Salvador each year? Well, let’s see, we get M.S.13 and illegal immigrants from El Salvador for our money.
If we were to tax or apply some sort of fee to these remittances, and reduce or eliminate the official foreign aid, we would have a tidy sum that could be used to help the needy or our veterans here in the United States. WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN FIRST. It is time to remind Congress and the Executive Branch, if you want our support and vote then start doing your job and stop giving away our money.
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