the Sugar Conspiracy

Friday, January 21, 2005

Our extravagantly wasteful society

Bush's inauguration yesterday cost $40 million. While it was all private money, the Center for American Progress looks at what else that money could have bought:

200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.

$290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.

But hey, a big party that shuts down 100 blocks of DC and then sticks the city for the bill, is much more important that all those things.

posted by chris at 2:32 PM
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