RE: [FT] Robot workersRe: Why superships cost more per mass

--- David Rodemaker <dar@horusinc.com> wrote:
...
> Once again, there is a less fine line between
> "maximizing profitability" and
> "charging the market price" to "sticking to the
> government because we can"
> (remember those $900 toilet seats, and $500 wrenches
> back in the 70's or
> 80's?) I would guess that it happens more than we
> know but less often than
> we are afraid of...

Ok, as a government contractor I feel compelled
to point out that these sorts of examples are highly
deceptive. The government imposes massive requirements
for documentation and testing (especially the
military)
and it often costs a heck of a lot more to produce
an item for a military contract than it does to put
it in wall mart. That wrench may have had to survive
4000 degree temperatures, drops from 50 feet, nearby
explosions, etc. In other words, the requirements for
the item and the cost to document those requirements
and the whole process to make it and the oversight
to make sure you did it the government way makes that
wrench VERY expensive. 

Plus how do you know that some of those big ticket
items were just fronts for the money that went into
building planes like the F117 and the SR71? That
money had to come from somewhere, right?

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail