Yes, but why is getting the second for the same price as the first bad? For major infrastructure I would expect the second to cost around the same price as the

Yes, but why is getting the second for the same price as the first bad? For major infrastructure I would expect the second to cost around the same price as the first. Materials, labour, time, bribes and corruption is all double. Any saving you might expect around paperwork and opportunity cost I don't mind, compared to waiting a decade then starting the process of getting it through government again. Even in the movie, (I don't know the book) think about the downtime if they had to fund the project again. And if you include 'in secret' it's even worse, because if the 3 letter agencies can do anything in secret for the same price as a public department that would me pretty amazing. Maybe the quote isn't cynical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUrdizRZyw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTUrdizRZyw