[quote=KSMountain][quote=briansd1]I hope you include the military in this. The military pays $500 for toilet seats and $2,000 for circuit boards.[/quote]
That’s a cute apocryphal anecdote and all, but maybe you should consider a more nuanced viewpoint.
Are you familiar with the markup of things that go in a hospital room, because they have to meet higher standards? Do you have any friends with boats, who probably complain of the outrageous cost of anything nautical? Now imagine the inspection and certification requirements in an aviation environment, civilian, let alone military. Do you think for example that the crappy fire resistant seats in an airliner are cheap? I bet we’d be surprised at the price of even the stupid seat belt. Are you aware that the food carts that the stewardesses push are actually pretty sophisticated? They’ve been engineered to be strong but amazingly light, because light saves lots of money. How much do you think the stainless steel toilet seat for even a commercial airliner costs? I’ll bet it’s over $200.
Much more demanding are military circuit board requirements. What temperature range might the thing be exposed to: 0-100C? Worse (in space)? What g forces must it withstand? 8? 10? More? If this board fails, might it cause a missile to go astray or a $200 million satellite to be lost?
Just some food for thought.[/quote]
Not only that, but it’s my understanding that the DOD hides expenses for “classified” goods and services by including these expenses in other, more “ordinary” expense categories.
