to mmubutu of zaire for purely strategic reasons with no attempt to aid the country. there's aid for science, general public health and economic development. the reality is foreign aid programs have to be well designed, properly targeted, and well implemented, like any other effort in the real world, public or private. they must be monitored for corruption and unintended effects. but when these conditions apply, and they do in many, many cases, foreign aid has a big positive effect. and how much are we spending to get these benefits? americans guess that their government spends 25% of its annual budget on aid. how much should it be spending, they are asked. 10% is the answer. well, the reality is that the united states spends less than 1% of its budget on aid. that's $30 for every american. is this money a waste? if you add up all the money spent on health-related aid