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

On 29-Jun-01 at 11:14, 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.
> 
> Notice I said "back in the 70's or 80's".
> 
> <snippage>
> 
> Sorry if I hit a sore spot there. I think that it is a very well
documented
> fact that there is a certain amount of graft, corruption, pork, or
simple
> inefficiency that occurs for large scale projects of the sort
represented
> by ship construction (or bridge-building for that matter).

Well, my example was programming, back in the early 90s I had a solo
business doing custom programming for private companies.  I was
doing fairly well writing databases with easy user interfaces and
nice printouts.  I bid on, and won, a job with the state of Florida
that I expected to take me 160 hours or so.  My bid was an order of
magnitude lower than the next bidder!!!  It turns out dealing with
the government is a whole different beast than dealing with individuals
or private companies.  A year of later I finally finished and was 
paid.  It worked out to about 20 cents an hour.  Dealing with
government is a whole different animal than private companies.