Quote:
Originally Posted by MRM
The government pays certain jobs on a cost plus basis - the cost of the item plus a reasonable markup. The reason the prices are so high is the MFG is being allowed to allocate their depreciation expense for their equipment equally to each item they sell. Therefore a wrench "costs" $500 to make. The rationale behind it is that it is necessary to keep a consistent supply of product manufacturers on line, through good times and bad.
The theory is that if the government relied exclusively on the open market for their product and suddenly had a crisis where they needed more product than the open market manufactured on a regular basis they would be stuck.
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Yup. And to you and I, the toilet seat is a toilet seat like we'd get for 11.99 at Home Depot, but there's usually something special about it that can't be explained in a soundbite or a headline.
I paid $40 for a wrench from this site, hard to explain that succinctly either.
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Rosewood 1983 911 SC Targa | Black 1990 944 S2 | White 1980 BMW R65 | Past: Crystal 1986 944 na
Guards Red is for the Unoriginal