Best example of overbudgeted jobs

[Higgler]

I'm curious if you have a favorite example of going overbudget on a job, usually defense related.

My all time defense favorite is ALE-55, bid $25 million in about 1995, year 2000 was $500 million over budget, and it wasn't close to working. I'd guess they're up to $750 million overbudget by now on their $25 million budget and it's still not functioning properly (inherently poor designs). And the customer went with the lowest bidder. You get what you pay for.

My second favorite on a similar vein is EW equipment designed on Long Island for the B1 bomber at a cost of $100 million. $65 million was spent, $35 million was set for the first prototypes to be airworthy tested. When Boeing was asked what it would take to retrofit the fleet, cost was $2 billion. The program was cancelled and the vendor kept the added $35 million profit.

kch

 

[ccw]

Hi Higgler,

My all time favorite is the "Big Dig" in Boston. I understand that the overrun became so large that it is a classified number.

 

[Higgler]

I'm from Boston,
Yah, that's a big debacle all right. It dwarfs my examples. A friend of mine is an electrician on the job, they make alot of money for twisting some wire together.
kch

 

[stephenweinstein]

In modern times and involving the USA:

The defeat of the Vietcong. The budget called for us to send "advisors" for a short time. We eventually sent combat troops and fought the war ourselves for about a decade.

The federal insuring of S&L's. This was supposed to cost nothing (because the insured institutions were supposed to be contributing to an fund like the FDIC so that no tax dollars would be needed) but eventually turned into a federal bailout estimated at $50 billion to several hundred billion.

Several social-welfare programs that started under FDR and were only supposed to last until the end of the depression but are still around today.

Several otherwise insignificant construction projects in Saudi Arabia that were funded with money from selling oil to the U.S. and eventually made OBL rich enough to create a private military and go war against the U.S.

Historical record:

A genocidal campaign that was started by the government then in power in Egypt, which ordered the killing of all newly born male children in order to wipe out the targeted population, and was supposed to be complete in one generation. This is first mentioned in the book of Exodus (Moses was the most well-known survivor) and continued in modern times under the direction of Hitler, OBL, etc.

 

[stephenweinstein]

Figure that, worldwide, on the order of 10^8 or 10^9 persons, businesses, or households, pay for Internet connections, an ISP, or both, at an average of approximately $20-40 each, per month. That makes that a total of between $10^10 and $10^12 per year.

How much was the original budget for providing connections to the Internet for everyone who needed them, back when it was just a few dozen colleges and government agencies?

It could easily be a million times over budget by now.

This would seem to be the record.