As an employee of a consulting company, I can confirm that our services are not cheap, but our clients don’t involve us in jobs every other company can do. Usually we do things that are complex, not performed successfully anywhere yet, in severe circumstances or all of the above. What we deal with are complex IT systems for large enterprises - systems that are usually absolutely crucial for proper operations of those enterprises. That makes us wield a great power, but also it’s a great burden of responsibility.
How big is this burden and what does "cost of the poor quality" mean - you can find a great example here:
Why mention that? As far as I know my employer wasn’t involved in any way in this case. But sometimes I’ve got a feeling that "special" circumstances on the projects I see make some people forget the great responsibility we take. This story is a great reminder as it’s always better to learn on other people mistakes, not your own.