The U.S. Department of Defense has paid $51,600 to the aerospace giant Boeing for a $300 trash receptacle, according to a new report from an American think tank.
The Pentagon paid the staggering sum after the trash container became designated as a non-commercial item, reports Responsible Statecraft, which is the online magazine for the Quincy Institute.
“Until 2010, Boeing charged an average of $300 for a trash container used in the E-3 Sentry, a surveillance and radar plane based on the 707 civilian airliner.
When the 707 fell out of use in the United States, the trash can was no longer a “commercial” item, meaning that Boeing was not obligated to keep its price at previous levels.”
The report cites a weapons industry source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, and follows a CBS News investigation that found Raytheon Technologies has increased the cost of its stinger missiles from $25,000 to over $400,000 per unit.
In response to that revelation, a bipartisan group of Senators led by Bernie Sanders sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanding an update on the department’s efforts to investigate corporate price gouging.
“The DOD can no longer expect Congress or the American taxpayer to underwrite record military spending while simultaneously failing to account for the hundreds of billions it hands out every year to spectacularly profitable private corporations.”
The reports come as the total US debt surpasses $32 trillion, with $572 billion added to the national debt in the last two weeks alone.
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