Pentagon auditors discovered in the late 1990s that they had accidentally paid nearly a million dollars to a defense contractor for a completely ordinary shipment of two small…

A closer look

Pentagon auditors discovered in the late 1990s that they had accidentally paid nearly a million dollars to a defense contractor for a completely ordinary shipment of two small metal washers, highlighting the legendary inefficiency of military spending. Government procurement systems are so hopelessly convoluted and shielded from standard market competition that absurd pricing errors become permanently baked into the operational budget. It is oddly comforting to know that while everyday citizens are aggressively audited by federal agents over a misplaced fifty-dollar charity deduction, the military-industrial complex routinely treats the equivalent of a luxury yacht as a minor rounding error in the hardware department