this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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Microblog Memes

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A place to share screenshots of Microblog posts, whether from Mastodon, tumblr, ~~Twitter~~ X, KBin, Threads or elsewhere.

Created as an evolution of White People Twitter and other tweet-capture subreddits.

RULES:

  1. Your post must be a screen capture of a microblog-type post that includes the UI of the site it came from, preferably also including the avatar and username of the original poster. Including relevant comments made to the original post is encouraged.
  2. Your post, included comments, or your title/comment should include some kind of commentary or remark on the subject of the screen capture. Your title must include at least one word relevant to your post.
  3. You are encouraged to provide a link back to the source of your screen capture in the body of your post.
  4. Current politics and news are allowed, but discouraged. There MUST be some kind of human commentary/reaction included (either by the original poster or you). Just news articles or headlines will be deleted.
  5. Doctored posts/images and AI are allowed, but discouraged. You MUST indicate this in your post (even if you didn't originally know). If an image is found to be fabricated or edited in any way and it is not properly labeled, it will be deleted.
  6. Absolutely no NSFL content.
  7. Be nice. Don't take anything personally. Take political debates to the appropriate communities. Take personal disagreements & arguments to private messages.
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submitted 3 weeks ago by Deceptichum@quokk.au to c/microblogmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] baller_w@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago

For context, $77 billion is more than most nations spend on their military.

What we could have bought instead; a list of real problems that money could help significantly with, or fix entirely (generated with AI):

Universal Healthcare (Medicare for All)

  • Est. cost: $3–4T per year
  • $77B covers ~2–3 weeks of healthcare for the entire US
  • Or ~6–7 million people for one year
  • ~2% of annual national healthcare spend

High-Speed Rail and Public Transit

  • Est. cost: $50–120M per mile
  • $77B covers 600–1,200 miles of true HSR
  • 3–5 major national corridors plus urban transit upgrades

Homelessness, Veterans, and Mental Health

  • Est. cost: $150k–300k per housing unit; ~$25k/person/year care
  • $77B covers 250,000–400,000 permanent housing units
  • 10+ years of care for all chronically homeless
  • 100% of veteran homelessness eliminated

Roads, Bridges, and Infrastructure

  • Est. cost: ~$5M per bridge; ~$1M per mile of road
  • $77B covers 15,000–20,000 bridge replacements
  • ~100,000 miles of roadway rebuilt
  • ~15–20% of all structurally deficient bridges

Domestic Semiconductor Manufacturing

  • CHIPS Act: $52B total
  • $77B covers 150% of CHIPS Act
  • 3–5 leading-edge fabs
  • Full AI, defense, and automotive supply-chain security

Fusion and Advanced Energy

  • ITER reactor: ~$22B
  • SPARC program: ~$4B
  • $77B covers 3 ITER-class reactors
  • 10+ SPARC-class fusion programs

Climate Resilience and Clean Energy

  • Est. cost: ~$1B per GW renewable capacity
  • $77B covers 60+ GW clean power
  • Electrification of ~10 million homes
  • Coastal protection and grid modernization across multiple states

Public Sector Scale Comparison

  • Equals 3+ years of NASA’s budget
  • Equals 10 years of US homelessness funding
  • Exceeds annual defense budgets of most countries