It's not a contradiction. 

Something can be good, while still being suboptimal. 

Something can be helpful, and still be a waste of money. 

So, Pi are the CDC picnic tables " a waste sure" or are they justified?

These aren't contradictions. 

The CDC might have had good reasons justifying the tables, that doesn't mean that there weren't cheaper options that fulfilled. 

And from a cost standpoint, there are cheaper options, that are worse in various ways.

I'm leaning towards the tables being a waste. Not as big of a waste as your posts have been implying, the absolute cheapest table on the market is hardly ever a good option for anything. But that doesn't mean there weren't good reasons for having those kinds of tables; and it's not contradictive to think about what those reasons are. 

The world is nuanced and complicated. Kind of have to look at the layers to things. 

What you said yesterday.....

Next came this post.

And you still don't see you contradicting yourself???

It's only a contradiction if you think the world is black and white. 

Nothing in the second post was even me arguing that these things were good, rather it was arguing that maybe they had better reasons than we think. 

It's rather concerning to me that you believe these to be contradictions. 

Doc, you're telling me Superman is fast, but flash is faster? You're contradicting yourself doc. 

Contradicting yourself is if you said something like: "Superman is slow"......and then an hour later you say......."Superman is fast, when he eats his Wheaties"

Was the CDC justified (in your opinion) in buying its 30 solar powered picnic tables at $8000 each, or was it wasteful government spending?

Please, indulge me, pick one side or the other. Stop waffling. That tendency gets old rather quick.

Jesus Christ, I wake up and see there are about 20 posts since I last entered this thread and it’s just BFR completely failing to understand the concept of nuance/context.

Between this and someone having to teach RDJ what hyperbole & metaphors are just a few days ago, this thread is just a couple bozos wanting to talk about important topics while having a 3rd grade level of comprehension.