I'm really not even going to bother with an introductory paragraph here. It has become popular among the American Right-Wing (which I would have counted myself as part of until about a year and a half ago when they went straight off the deep end and became full-on Russian sympathizers because that's what it took to show how anti-Biden they were) to gripe about the money the US is sending to Ukraine.
https://twitter.com/ksorbs/status/1561086437570723842?lang=en
- ksorbs
https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1668698316693987329
- GuntherEagleman
https://twitter.com/GoldenWing2022/status/1668700696508788739
- GoldenWing2022
The narrative apparently is that the US is going to go broke due to the money we send to Ukraine, which (according to Republicans) all ends up lining Volodomy Zelensky's pockets and pay for his alleged "cocaine addiction."
https://twitter.com/lucas_gggs/status/1561684069812928514
- lucas_gggs
It doesn't matter that this is an outdated allegation conjured up by a desperate opponent in the last election, and it doesn't matter that it has been debunked time and time again (De Abreau, Gilbert, Kelety). If the Kremlin says it, then the "I'll side with the devil himself as long as he's against Stumbling Joe" crowd will believe it.
We're also told the war we're supposedly funding all by ourselves (a concept carefully crafted to imply that we, rather than the Russians who started the war and are carrying it out, are to blame) is "unwinnable" and allegedly "not our problem." And GOP hard-liners like Marjorie Taylor-Greene (the AOC of the Right; both are uncouth, unqualified, and blissfully uninformed women who have zero relevant experience, yet somehow are considered icons because they're loud), Matt Gaetz and Donald Trump Jr. will insist that Joe Biden is bleeding America dry through a seemingly endless torrent of hard-earned US taxpayer dollars, extorted from US citizens and sent to Ukraine against our will.
As political lies go, it's not nearly as pretty or well-crafted as some I've heard, but it's what the Far Right is going with. First of all, the $76,800,000,000 we have sent to Ukraine over the course of the year and a half of war (Masters and Merro) pales compared to the cost of almost any given year of the War on Terror (Defense Comptroller). When one considers that the scale of the war in Ukraine dwarfs any of the Middle East Wars the US spent so much more money being involved in (and of course the minor detail that the Ukrainians are using that money to do something our military hasn't managed to do since 1991: winning), the "we can't afford it" argument would seem to be already dead.
But what the Hell, let's double-tap it.
By The Numbers
Since we're being told that we're going broke and having our money stolen from us to send it to Ukraine, let's examine just how much money we're talking about here. I already mentioned that the total US aid to Ukraine has been $76.8 billion. Since that article is from a month ago and another $325 million was just approved (Stone), I believe that brings the total to $77.125 billion. For ease of calculation, let's round this up to $77.5 billion. Written numerically, that's $77,500,000,000.00. Looks like a lot, at first, doesn't it? But keep reading. Any expense can be small if it's divided enough ways. Just how many taxpayers are footing this bill?
The most up-to-date figure I've been able to get for the US population (that's citizens, legal foreign residents, and illegal foreign residents alike) is 339,996,563 (Macrotrends). Now, if you live in the US, then in some form or another you are paying US taxes. Every time you spend money you pay sales tax. Every time you get paid you pay income tax. Do you drive? You pay a tax at the pump. Do you own a home? You pay property tax. There's no avoidance here. Live in US mean pay money to Uncle Sam, Kimosabe. So, let's divide the tax money we have sent to Ukraine by the number of taxpayers.
$77,500,000,000.00 / 339,996,563 = $227.94 per taxpayer.
So, in all the days from the day Russia went from skirmishing over Donbas and Crimea to an all-out war against Ukraine's entire population (24 February, 2022), each US taxpayer has seen $227.94 of their tax dollars go to Ukraine. It suddenly doesn't look like a lot, but let's go a step further. How much is that per deum per capita? What is the daily cost to each US taxpayer?
At the time I write this, it has been 479 days since Putin's declaration of a "Special Military Operation," a delightfully cynical euphemism if ever there was one. So, are we ready to find out just what a huge and oh-so-imposing expense each American has been saddled with due to the money we are sending to Ukraine?
Forty-Seven Point Five Cents
$227.94 per citizen / 479 days = $0.475 per citizen per day
If you are so broke that you miss that amount per day, then beg the Democrats to increase your food stamps. That, 47 cents (1) per day, is the expense we're told that the richest country on Earth can't afford. You'd need that from 10 people to buy a bag of Lay's potato chips. That is the amount of each American's tax dollars that are spent every day funding Ukraine's struggle to remain independent, indeed to even survive, and of course, to stop Russia from carrying what they openly boast is a "war against Europe and the world" to our own doorstep.
And in the words of Star Trek's Elim Garak, "I don't know about you, but I call that a bargain."
(1) To anyone in Ukraine who is reading this, at today's exchange rate that's about 17 Hryvnias.
Works Cited
De Abreau, Catalina Marchant. "Disproving claims that President Volodymyr Zelensky is addicted to cocaine." France24. 27 Apr, 2022. Web. 18 June, 2023. https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20220427-disproving-claims-president-volodymyr-zelensky-addicted-cocaine
Defense Comptroller. "Estimated Cost to Each U.S. Taxpayer of Each of the Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria." US Department of Defense Report, RefID: A‐8D30EC7. 22 June, 2022. Web. 18 June, 2023. https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/Section1090Reports/Estimated_Cost_to_Each_U.S._Taxpayer_of_Each_of_the_Wars_in_Afghanistan,_Iraq_and_Syria_dated_June_2022.pdf
Gilbert, David. "The Kremlin Keeps Trying to Call Volodymyr Zelenskyy a Drug Addict." Vice. 27 Apr, 2022. Web. 18 June, 2023. https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gpd3/russia-zelenskyy-drug-addict
Kelety, Josh. "Video of Zelenskyy talking about cocaine is deceptively edited." AP News. 25 Apr, 2022. Web. 18 June, 2023. https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-volodymyr-zelenskyy-drugs-137476901035
Macrotrends Staff. "U.S. Population 1950-2023." Macrotrends. Retrieved from web. 18 June, 2023. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/population
Masters, Jonathan & Merrow, Will. "How Much Aid Has the U.S. Sent Ukraine? Here Are Six Charts." Council on Foreign Relations. 19 May, 2023. Web. 18 June, 2023. https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-aid-has-us-sent-ukraine-here-are-six-charts
Stone, Mike. "US to send $325 million in new military aid to Ukraine." https://www.reuters.com/world/us-send-325-million-new-military-aid-ukraine-2023-06-13/