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PaperclipPerfector  13hr ago (text post)   1918 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026

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This is how it usually goes down for me.

NPC: We need more tax money for our underfunded public schools

Me: How much do you think insert local ghetto spends per student?

NPC: I don't know, $3000?

Me: They spend $34,000 per student per year. There's 20 kids to a class, so that's $680,000 per teacher.

NPC: Nevertheless

I've encountered similar (but in reverse) with people arguing the US needs to reduce military spending (especially among people who are otherwise supportive of NATO).

The USA is definitely getting little bang for its buck procurement wise.

Yeah, people are shocked when they learn that defense is only like 15% of federal spending and most of that is just social programs and salaries as well.

We spend almost as much on veterans disability (much of which is fraud) as we do on weapons procurement.

And a lot of the weapons procurement budget is being spent inside the US so it's less evaporative than foreign aid

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