USAID Corruption: Deeper Than You Think

Podcast audio:

In this episode of The Ayn Rand Institute Podcast, Ben Bayer and Agustina Vergara Cid examine the current controversy over USAID and discuss Ayn Rand’s distinctive critique of the morality behind America’s foreign aid.

Among the topics covered:

• How recent revelations about USAID expose the agency’s absurd, if not malicious, activities;
• Why Rand viewed foreign aid and its justification in the name of “the public interest” as morally corrupt;
• The continuing relevance of Rand’s critique of the altruistic premises underlying arguments for foreign aid;
• How an unprincipled foreign policy has failed to protect America’s interests abroad and wasted its resources;
• The role of foreign aid in a proper, pro-American foreign policy.

Recommended in this podcast are Ayn Rand’s essays “The Pull Peddlers” and “Altruism as Appeasement,” available in The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought.

The podcast was recorded on March 10, 2025 and posted on March 19, 2025. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch archived podcasts here.