4 ms·

I guess I see what you're saying but...how about people are just reasonable and not greedy? But I suppose that goes against basic human nature, or something.

• cmurf 9y ago
  Many cultures make this work, including Japan. They also have very involved, ritualized, negotiations. I don't know whether the contracts are any longer, or if they depend substantially on long standing norms. What I see in America's big projects right now is a lot of selfish narcissism. Greed stems from that. It's, "I am a whore, and you should go right ahead and treat me like one because I'm gonna treat you like one." It's really adversarial. There is no pride in anything other than making money. Contrast with the big industrial boom period of the 20th century, when massive public and private infrastructure was built, with really high taxes on the high end - I think they took a lot of pride in their work, the fact that so many people, a civil society, were going to use and benefit from using that infra - and it was going to make everyone richer.