> I would guess it's more that America's cherished spirit of individualism I suspect that the drive at the individual level to ... > directly benefit oneself.

> I would guess it's more that America's cherished spirit of individualism I suspect that the drive at the individual level to ... > directly benefit oneself. ... is universal. Germans, Swedes, Chinese - they're all just as self serving as Americans. In America, we've just built a mythology around that "cherished spirit" that often impedes us from doing common sense things like investing in comprehensive mass transit in places that it makes a lot of sense to do so. It doesn't hurt that the narrative of individualism has been very effectively used by the auto industry.