Imagine if the U.S. government gave out free smartphones to some segment of the population. Over the years, they’d get used to replacing their phones for the smallest reason — a scratch, a tiny crack, dropped it a little hard — because it costs them nothing. Some might even start swapping phones every month or every week.

“Ah,” someone says, “but the government negotiates huge discounts with the phone makers since it buys in bulk!” I think this misses the forest for the trees when it comes to cost control.