[snapplebobapple]

It's not an uncharitable description of how taxes work, it's an accurate description of how stuff like this gets funded by government. somebody in government somewhere will fail to do any of the cost containment/search for alternatives you or I would do if we were spending our own money and they will put in an order for this, which will increase the deficit, which will eventually increase taxes. They don't have anywhere near as strong an incentive to contain costs/search for alternatives that we do because it's not their money or their problem (until they manage things so poorly that they cause a currency crisis).