In the past year, the U.S. authorized sending $1.2 billion to Ukraine, and police departments are even donating military gear. But taxpayers now wonder what budgets have been CUT to make this possible – and the donations expose just how much in tax dollars this country spends on violence.
To understand how vast U.S. spending is, note this: Ukraine’s military budget is $6 billion in total. New York City’s Police Department budget ALONE is nearly $11 billion! President Biden says we need to “fund the police,” but U.S. cities have bigger police budgets than entire other countries’ militaries!
So between spending on policing and warfare, what gets neglected?
To afford military and police spending, the U.S. cuts from things like affordable housing, and recently cut $5 billion in global COVID-19 assistance – utterly failing to meet its promise to distribute supplies and vaccines in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.
And we can’t forget that the U.S. has been meddling in other regions for decades. U.S. intervention is a huge reason why the Ukraine crisis is even happening in the first place!
This country’s spending priorities reflect its values. This country prioritizes gaining power and spreading violence, while we all suffer – not just Black people in the U.S., but around the world.