1/10 A year ago, National Guard troops were deployed to Washington to address a declared “crime emergency.” They’re still here. And the mission has grown.
2 comments — live from bluesky
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 2/10
Today, roughly 4,600 National Guard troops are assigned to the mission in the nation’s capital.
#DC #FreeDC
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 3/10
The estimated cost:
$55 million a month.
$1.8 million every day.
#GovernmentSpending #Debt
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 4/10
The Pentagon estimates keeping the Guard in Washington through January 2029 will cost taxpayers another $1.4 billion.
#NationalGuard #GovernmentSpending
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 5/10
There is a financial cost to putting soldiers on the streets of a capital city.
There is also a civic cost that is harder to put on a ledger.
#Democracy #OccupiedDC
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 6/10
Democracies don’t necessarily lose their character the day soldiers appear in the streets.
Mostly, it happens when we stop noticing they’re there.
#Democracy #CivilLiberties
Otto ⚛️ · 2 · 1d ago 7/10
Meanwhile, the national debt is approaching $40 trillion.
In July alone, the federal government ran a $432 billion deficit—the largest July deficit in American history.
#NationalDebt #Deficit
Otto ⚛️ · 2 · 1d ago 8/10
Through the first 10 months of this fiscal year, the deficit reached $1.8 trillion—already exceeding the deficit for all of last year.
#NationalDebt #GovernmentSpending
Otto ⚛️ · 2 · 1d ago 9/10
We’re now spending roughly $3 billion every day just on interest on the national debt.
And another $1.8 million a day maintaining thousands of Guard troops in Washington.
#NationalDebt #NationalGuard
Otto ⚛️ · 1 · 1d ago 10/10
Money is a measure of priorities.
So is the sight of military troops occupying the nation’s capital.
The question isn’t only what this costs.
There's the question of what we’re becoming accustomed to.
#Democracy #WashingtonDC
These guys cost upwards of $600 a day for per diem. This is adding up on the public’s tab.
It's a deliberate mismanagement of the public purse. The bond market is sending warning signals that are ignored.They will use a sovereign debt crisis to scrap every vestige of the administrative state - Social Security Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, Head Start. They want all if it dead.