The prime minister appears to have a weakness for grandiose and unaffordable projects, just as Heath did.
Even so, the critics wince and grumble, calling the World Cup an unaffordable vanity project.
The new Treasury secretary and Mr. Greenspan shared concerns that even the bulk of the first round of tax cuts in 2001 could prove unaffordable if projected $5.6 trillion surpluses over the next decade turned out to be a mirage (as they did).
He had been asked by the previous Labour government to review procurement and found the entire programme overheated and unaffordable with projects on average five years behind schedule, she added.
No one will refinance that debt today unless the margins are significantly increased, which could make some projects unaffordable.
Many of them probably wouldn't now face the prospect of laying off large numbers of municipal workers, and wouldn't find affordable housing projects unaffordable.
Another choice would be to declare that the 2014 project is unaffordable and beyond hope, and to bring troops home faster and sooner.
The crisis in Britain's railways is threatening to engulf HS2, with the government being forced to release a damning report showing the Department for Transport believed the high-speed project was unaffordable given its other spending commitments.
"Meanwhile for clients, rising steel prices create the risk that projects become unaffordable.
"Because this project would be unaffordable," said the owner, Adam Katz.
