# ZeroHedge Debate Moderated by Josie, Mike Benz vs. Cenk Uygur Debate US Foreign Aid Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/spaces-x-josie-6719832/zerohedge-debate-moderated-by-josie-mike-benz-vs-cenk-uygur-debate-us-foreign-aid Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/spaces-x-josie-6719832/zerohedge-debate-moderated-by-josie-mike-benz-vs-cenk-uygur-debate-us-foreign-aid.md Podcast: [The Josie Show](https://stenobird.com/podcast/spaces-x-josie-6719832) Published: 2025-07-01T15:17:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/foreign-aid-deep-states-tentacle-control Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/51cea77a-e1cc-41cf-9294-c42566cc37ae/Zero_Hedge_Debate.mp3?dest-id=4768147 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/spaces-x-josie-6719832/episodes/zerohedge-debate-moderated-by-josie-mike-benz-vs-cenk-uygur-debate-us-foreign-aid Duration seconds: 5251 ## Resource But is it worse than that? Not simply a wealth transfer but a lever of control, wielded by the U.S. government to make weaker nations fall in line. Soft power as they call it. Few understand it better than Mike Benz, formerly the "Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Communications and Information Policy" at the State Department. Benz believes soft power and foreign aid, managed effectively, have their place in the U.S. empire. Tonight we are bringing the reformist Benz together with foreign aid proponent Cenk Uygur and abolitionist Keith Knight (editor of Scott Horton's Libertarian Institute) to answer the question: "should we abolish foreign aid?" Hosted by Josie. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/spaces-x-josie-6719832/episodes/zerohedge-debate-moderated-by-josie-mike-benz-vs-cenk-uygur-debate-us-foreign-aid/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/spaces-x-josie-6719832/zerohedge-debate-moderated-by-josie-mike-benz-vs-cenk-uygur-debate-us-foreign-aid.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.