This could just be a bunch of errors. The subway issue is a good example of this. The initial NYC subway was put in place with cut and cover construction. Be

This could just be a bunch of errors. The subway issue is a good example of this. The initial NYC subway was put in place with cut and cover construction. Because it was so long ago there were minimal obstacles. The Second Avenue subway was proposed early on, but even back in the day it was rejected as being far too expensive because of the complications caused by the soils, existing subway routes, and other infrastructure. Over the years the possibility of a Second Avenue subway was repeatedly raised and rejected as being far too expensive because of unavoidable complications. Then in the 1990s NYC politicians decided that miraculous new tunnel boring technology would make the Second Avenue subway easy and cheap. Modern technology solves all problems. It was a "no brainer". They decided to it was time to be a culture that builds. And the result was a terrible mess. The tunnel boring technology eventually worked, but only after much complication and multiple explosions of costs. So what is being advocated here appears to be the opposite of the truth. In the past things were relatively quick because we knew our limits and when to stop. We used to be a culture that could refuse to build. In contrast, this modern idea of being the culture that decides now is the time to build leads us astray so vast fortunes end up being spent on misguided adventures. Want to be a culture that is good at building quickly? Start by saying no to most things. And try to understand history as it is and not through meaningless comparisons of cut and cover subway construction to the modern wonders of tunnel boring machines.