We may have funded DHS (for now), but the Coast Guard still has a funding problem. Despite the fact that it travels all over the world saving lives, stopping smugglers, and improving the safety of the seas, the Coast Guard still operates on less money than the New York City subway and with fewer people than Disney World. Here’s a couple charts to put the small size of the Coast Guard in context.
Read the transcript
Things that cost more than the Coast Guard / by The Claw of Knowledge / Even though we’ve funded the Department of Homeland Security (for now), the Coast Guard remains sorely underfunded. Many of its most-relied-on ships predate the moon landing, while its manpower remains below that of Disney World. Since budgets are hard to understand without context, here’s a list of 12 things that cost more than the Coast Guard. / Amount seniors lose to fraud each year – $36.5 billion / American spending on Valentine’s Day gifts – $18.9 billion / How much Snapchat thinks it’s worth – $16 billion / Military budget of United Arab Emirates – $14.37 billion / Lost manhours due to fantasy football – $13.4 billion / One Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier – $12.68 billion / 2016 budget of the U.S. Coast Guard – $9.96 billion / Budget for all U.S. public libraries – $10.7 billion / Operating cost of NYC subway system – $13 billion / Annual budget of University of Texas – $15.6 billion / Money Army lost due to sequestration – $18 billion / Total cost of Boston’s Big Dig – $22 billion / Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program – $39 billion