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I dont buy this we were first to do it. Plenty of other countries do continual upgrades to subways, banking, bridges, financial systems etc. My reasons are part

I dont buy this we were first to do it. Plenty of other countries do continual upgrades to subways, banking, bridges, financial systems etc. My reasons are partly these; 1) I think US tend to think of itself as No.1 nation and makes it less likely to look at other countries doing things better and looking to follow. I think this becomes a mental limitation for many US citizens and policy makers. 2) There is too much corporate capitalism. Money in politics etc. Look at the internet system where Google tried to roll out fibre and there were regions passing laws stop competitors even going into the market. Look at the prices you pay for mobile services. For the world leading free market, there is way to much corruption where markets are restricted rather than government pushing to open established markets to new business when they become entrenched. 3) Over investment in military. US could have that budget, still be the largest military by a mile and be dropping hundreds of billions in building and repairing infrastructure. 4) Too much focus on making money vs doing things well. The desire to keep building a nation seems to be gone. same in my country of Australia. You read history from earlier in the 20th century and they had a view to get things done that would benefit a nation overall. Now its 'would a rail line really pay for itself and be cost effective' type mentality that limits visionary projects. 5) Career politicians. Like other nations I think many career politicians want to take the safe route for reelections. There is endless media criticism of these guys if something goes wrong, and big projects, things do wrong and no-one wants to hear were putting up taxes this year to pay for stuff. No idea how, but we need to filter better for people that believe in what they are doing and have a vision vs popularity based vote for me campaigning. And generally vet them for brains and ability vs I always vote for this party.

tialaramex 6y ago
Your point (1) definitely. Humans are far more alike than they are different so you will be very well served by learning from the experiences of others instead of insisting on making all the mistakes for yourself, not least because some mistakes are fatal. Take US healthcare. There are a lot of models for how you can deliver universal healthcare to all your country's residents. They're all different. They all have problems. They're all better than the current US situation. They're all cheaper for a start, most of them have better outcomes by some measures, often by almost all measures. There was plenty of room for two political parties to have ideological disagreements about how to deliver universal healthcare to Americans as a result. Which examples to follow and which to reject. But the Republicans didn't do that. They decided the hill they wanted to die on (or at least, for some of their voters to die on) was the ideological rejection of universal healthcare as a goal. They would literally tell people it can't be done, despite the fact that every comparable country already did it.
- kmonsen 6y ago
  There are a few things most outsiders don't understand about US healthcare: - It's primary purpose it to bill people, not to cure people. It is doing really well at this. - The secondary purpose is to provide incredible care to the richest of people. It does pretty well at this as well. Not as good as it used to, but still probably good enough. Pretty far down the list of priorities is to heal poor people and make sure they don't fall sick again. It is not something most people give a shit about. If they die, they hey they should have been rich instead. It is slowly changing with the middle class that was rich enough to get good care being eroded away enough to realize no-one gives a shit about them but they have enough voting power that people have to pretend (similar situations happen all over the world, just maybe not with healthcare).
alasdair_ 6y ago
> I think US tend to think of itself as No.1 nation and makes it less likely to look at other countries doing things better and looking to follow. The coronavirus testing response, where the USA refused to use existing, proven, tests from Germany (or S Korea) proved this to me more than any other single event.

tialaramex 6y ago

Your point (1) definitely. Humans are far more alike than they are different so you will be very well served by learning from the experiences of others instead of insisting on making all the mistakes for yourself, not least because some mistakes are fatal. Take US healthcare. There are a lot of models for how you can deliver universal healthcare to all your country's residents. They're all different. They all have problems. They're all better than the current US situation. They're all cheaper for a start, most of them have better outcomes by some measures, often by almost all measures. There was plenty of room for two political parties to have ideological disagreements about how to deliver universal healthcare to Americans as a result. Which examples to follow and which to reject. But the Republicans didn't do that. They decided the hill they wanted to die on (or at least, for some of their voters to die on) was the ideological rejection of universal healthcare as a goal. They would literally tell people it can't be done, despite the fact that every comparable country already did it.

kmonsen 6y ago
There are a few things most outsiders don't understand about US healthcare: - It's primary purpose it to bill people, not to cure people. It is doing really well at this. - The secondary purpose is to provide incredible care to the richest of people. It does pretty well at this as well. Not as good as it used to, but still probably good enough. Pretty far down the list of priorities is to heal poor people and make sure they don't fall sick again. It is not something most people give a shit about. If they die, they hey they should have been rich instead. It is slowly changing with the middle class that was rich enough to get good care being eroded away enough to realize no-one gives a shit about them but they have enough voting power that people have to pretend (similar situations happen all over the world, just maybe not with healthcare).

alasdair_ 6y ago

> I think US tend to think of itself as No.1 nation and makes it less likely to look at other countries doing things better and looking to follow. The coronavirus testing response, where the USA refused to use existing, proven, tests from Germany (or S Korea) proved this to me more than any other single event.