Currently they're fighting desertification in africa(and china) with the "Great Green Wall".[0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Green_Wall_(Africa)
Sometimes politics just make no sense whatsoever.
Here's some examples of expensive things:
* USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier: $13.3 billion [0]
* F-35 jet program (covering expected lifetimes of all aircraft through 2070): $1.5 trillion (> $150 million per aircraft) [1]
* TARP funds during 2007-2010 crisis: $431 billion [2]
* PPP loan forgiveness (during covid): $742 billion [3]
It's very tempting to declare these other expenses an exorbitant waste of potential when mega-projects come in so much cheaper: greening Africa ($8bn), using desalination and up-gradient pumping to re-hydrate the Colorado River ($15bn)[4], the large hadron collider ($5bn - $13bn)[5], and James Webb Space Telescope ($9.7bn)[6] to name a few.
Sources:
[0] https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-navy-uss-ford-aircra...
[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20191206140954/https://www.thena...
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubled_Asset_Relief_Program
[3] https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus/bailouts/
[4] https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2022/11/20/we-need-more-w...
[5] https://en.as.com/latest_news/how-much-money-did-cerns-large...
That draws on the China example and there's some really inspiring content on the site.