I tend to think it's lack of competition. The industries that do best in the US are ones that foreign competitors have the easiest ability to compete in. Cons

I tend to think it's lack of competition. The industries that do best in the US are ones that foreign competitors have the easiest ability to compete in. Construction is almost inherently a domestic affair. With efficiencies gained in more competitive the money saved has to go somewhere so it gets spent on construction. Of course a problem with this is that I don't think all forms of infrastructure spending of gone up in price - look at housing; per square foot I don't think the cost has gone up that much.