The White House Contractor

Three contractors were bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in D.C.; one from Illinois, one from Tennessee and a third from Kentucky. They all went with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Tennessee contractor took out a tape measure and did some measuring, then worked some figures with a pencil. 'Well', he said, 'I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Kentucky contractor also did some measuring and figuring, then said, 'I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me.'

The Illinois contractor didn't measure or figure, but leaned over to the White House official and whispered, '$2,700.'

The official, incredulously, whispered back, 'You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?'

The Illinois contractor replied, '$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire that guy from Kentucky to fix the fence.''

Done,' replied the government official.

And that, my friends, is how our government works!

From a web circulated email joke seen eslewhere

PS - And don't think that it is just the other guy's "party" that does this sort of thing.