Taxpayer's Hard Earned Money

Many government employees misuse the money paid by America's taxpayers. Stryk Thomas, a former consultant with the Agency for International Development (AID), wrote an article on how the taxpayer's money has been spent by US government workers. Mr. Thomas describes the richly furnished, air conditioned, snack bar provided, state of the art computer systems in the AID offices in West Africa. This is an injustice to the impoverished in West Africa because their living standards are extremely incompatible with those of the consultants.

In fiscal year 1994, the AID program spent approximately $183.9 million on consultants and experts. Many of these consultants perform unsatisfactory work,explained Thomas, because It is too difficult for consultants to resolve the problems abroad. This is due to their unfamiliarity with the regions and the language barrier between both cultures. These are funds spent foolishly which can certainly be applied towards progams in the United States.

Thomas explains to the reader how "so called experts are flown around the world from Washington D.C. by AID." These specialists are hired for a short period to work with field missions and then are "sent home well-compensated." This causes a great number of AID employees to travel often and "compete for sojourns to beautiful and exotic places." This is morally wrong because the consultants should be doing it for the advancement of the people in the poverty-stricken countries and not for their travelling enjoyments.