419 Scam, where victims continue to spend money for alleged business deals, although the fraudulent character of the deal appears obvious to uninvolved people. The Big Dig, a costly construction project in Boston Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant Taurus IT Project AIG Government Assistance 30–40% of software projects experience escalation of commitment due to their complexity and uncertainty. Intangibility makes determining the current status of projects especially difficult. Denver International Airport's baggage handling system that was 2 years and $2 billion over budget in the 1990s Six years and $1 billion spent by the U.S. Air Force on a dysfunctional combat support system Sony's continued participation in electronics after $8.5 billion in losses over 10 years Congress and advocacy group support and investment in the 21st Century Community Learning Center, which has been found to fail to meet its goals Continued funding for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program for school children, which research showed doesn't lead to a meaningful decrease in drug use The construction of Berlin Brandenburg Airport, which as of 2019 was €6.5 billion over budget and 10 years behind schedule. Until it was fully opened in November 2020, politicians and economists had raised doubts that the airport could ever be opened, while at the same time the project had been described as "too expensive to fail". The Concorde project Construction of the Channel tunnel Construction of the American Dream Meadowlands complex in New Jersey, a project started in 2003 under the name Xanadu, plagued by financial and legal hurdles and numerous construction delays See also Brinkmanship Confirmation bias Conflict escalation Cost overrun Pivoting Loss aversion Martingale (betting system) Mission creep Planck's principle Sunk cost fallacy effect True-believer syndrome References Cognitive inertia Game theory Geopolitical rivalry Barriers to critical thinking Error Waste of resources Conflict (process)