I think a lot of this is that nobody has long term incentives and plenty of people believe "we are awesome" is truth. As a developer, if I paper over problems

I think a lot of this is that nobody has long term incentives and plenty of people believe "we are awesome" is truth. As a developer, if I paper over problems and claim to have resolved them, people will love me, trust me, and give me bonus pay. If I bring up problems, people consider me a trouble maker. And when the bill comes due, I will just jump to another company.