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Comment by guimarin | Hacker News Reader

You don't think they 'actually spend $20k on a hammer, $30k on a toilet seat, do you'[1]? If this is not an error, I think we just found the best justification I've seen for making all budgets/purchases etc. in government publicly available via API, as this and the ones below are amazing finds.

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116629/quotes?item=qt1534129

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Not to excuse it all, because I'm sure there's plenty of waste and fraud, but sometimes militaries/governments need things that are more robust than the seemingly just-as-good civilian alternatives.

Why doesn't Curiosity run on a Dell Inspiron? Why can't the President drive a used Honda Civic? Why can't the drone programs just retrofit toy helicopters?

(Hint: there are good answers to all of these questions.)

I've always found this West Wing clip interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R9kH_HOUXM

As another point, the book Burning Money from the Chairman of Reagan's Committee on Cost Control, J. Peter Grace:

"The Federal government is Burning Money and it is your money. An actual case. One day the US Navy decided to buy a hammer, the kind you buy for $7 at the corner hardware store. To the $7 cost of the hammer, add: $41 to order the hammer and figure out how to use it. $93 to make sure the hammer worked. $102 for "manufacturing overhead. " $37 to make sure there were spare parts for the hammer. $3 for packing the hammer for shipment. $90 for the contractor's general administrative costs. $56 for the finder's fee. $7 for the capital cost of money. The U.S. Navy ended up buying a $7 hammer for $436, and who paid for it? You."

http://www.paperbackswap.com/Burning-Money-Waste-J-Peter-Gra...

Jefferson county in WV did pay $189 per a latrine though...

I can't find the 20k hammer or the toilet seat.

It's a quote from "Independance Day" explaining how the us govt was able to keep the funding of area 51 secret.

I think the quote is not the main thrust of the GP point - but it's pretty hard to make any sensible comments with billions in hardware being given away.

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