I'm just trying to explain that server cost is more than just the hardware.
In most cases cloud computing is actually still a very cost effective solution to infrastructure. But with infinite scalability also comes responsibility.
In the case of the OP, had they had their own hardware they would have noticed that had written bad code (it would have crashed or become very slow at least), but the cloud just scaled up and processed their code.
I'm not trying to defend Google in this case. Billing 72k when a 100 USD limit is set sounds like a scam.
In most cases cloud computing is actually still a very cost effective solution to infrastructure. But with infinite scalability also comes responsibility.
In the case of the OP, had they had their own hardware they would have noticed that had written bad code (it would have crashed or become very slow at least), but the cloud just scaled up and processed their code.
I'm not trying to defend Google in this case. Billing 72k when a 100 USD limit is set sounds like a scam.