Like other parts of government, the Pentagon is famous for wasting money, but a recent Bloomberg report makes $600 toilet seats seem like a good deal from the discount bin at Wal‐​Mart:

A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19‐​cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said. The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89‐​cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show. …The scheme unraveled in September after a purchasing agent noticed a bill for shipping two more 19‐​cent washers: $969,000. That order was rejected and a review turned up the $998,798 payment earlier that month for shipping two 19‐​cent washers to
Fort Bliss, Texas, Stroot said.