pound-foolish

Alan: They had the penny-wise-and-pound-foolish mentality that a lot of corporations do.

“Not spending the money here is about as penny wise and pound foolish as I can think of,” he said.

Nowadays it is more fashionable to speak of this kind of thing as "penny wise and pound foolish."

Still, there is such a thing as being 'penny wise and pound foolish.'

Not a little, too, of Sir George's economy was of "the penny-wise and pound-foolish" kind.

But it is wonderful what people, penny-wise and pound foolish, will sometimes do to save 2d.

The small force our Government (penny-wise and pound foolish) had sent against the Afghans were overwhelmed.