I see a lot of moaning about inefficiency here, but here's a point of comparison. During the Bubble years in the late eighties, when many rural areas were feeli

I see a lot of moaning about inefficiency here, but here's a point of comparison. During the Bubble years in the late eighties, when many rural areas were feeling left out, there was a scheme to give basically every municipality in Japan a large lump sum of money ($10m?), no strings attached, except that it had to be used for building something new. This, as you might guess, was an incredible waste of money. Many podunk towns built flashy "multi-purpose halls" (多目的ホール) perfect for all those symphony orchestras just dying to perform in the middle of nowhere. More memorably, the town of Utazu, Kagawa purchased a solid gold toilet...! http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/09/09/1901s593626.htm http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/09/09/1901s593626.htm https://www.emporis.com/buildings/191596/gold-tower-utazu-japan https://www.emporis.com/buildings/191596/gold-tower-utazu-ja...