Mayweather?s latest spending spree means next to nothing, or perhaps less than next to nothing in the greater scheme of things?
It?s often hard to distinguish the banal from the significant if no one does it for us. In these woe begotten times, some would have us believe that they are one and the same. Floyd Mayweather?s latest spending spree, for example, however newsworthy in some outlets, means next to nothing, or perhaps less than next to nothing in the greater scheme of things.
The Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that the recently elected mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, and his younger brother, heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, are putting their money where their mouths are.
According to a published report, the Klitschkos ?have shelled out more than $270,000 to purchase equipment for the Kyiv battalion, which is engaged in the government?s punitive operation in the eastern Lugansk region, UDAR said at its official website.?
$270,000 is chump change compared to what Money spends on jewelry. But the Klitschkos are less interested in conspicuous consumption than in trying to save a nation.
?Volodya (diminutive for Wladimir) and I have allocated 3.2 million hrivnyas,? Vitali said, ?and today we?re purchasing the things the fighters have been asking for. The first consignment of the munitions will be handed over to them next week.?
In addition to munitions, the money will be spent on thermal imagery devices, spyglasses, flak jackets, medical kits, anesthetics, and other battlefield essentials, which will be forwarded to commanders of ?the territorial defense battalion.?
?Commanders of the 12th battalion of territorial defense filed a request to me as the head of this city,? Mayor Klitschko said. ?They told me they had been dispatched to the zone of the antiterrorist operation,? (which according to Itar-Tass is ?the way that the authorities in Kiev call the combat actions in Eastern Ukraine), ?for fulfilling combat tasks without the necessary munitions.?
As to why the Klitschkos felt it necessary to reach into their own pockets, the answer is simple.
?It?s quite clear that the budget of the capital city doesn?t have the money for this.?
In a fight between David and Goliath, I always root for the little guy, which is no reason not to give Goliath the last word.
?The punitive operation conducted against supporters of Ukraine?s federalization in the former industrial heartlands of the country, the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, has resulted in a heavy loss of life among civilians and has forced several hundred thousand people to flee to neighboring regions of Russia.?
And then of course there?s shopping.
