There's a certain class of politically active individuals with no concern for the greater good but a serious interest in matters specifically impacting their existence. These people are called NIMBYs, which stands for "Not In My Backyard." On one hand, NIMBYs are fulfilling a basic part of representative government by fighting specifically for their agenda when, usually, the great mass of people don't care if an Arby's gets built on Magnolia Avenue. This is why we have local representatives. Someone is tasked to care. On the other hand, these groups often impede progress for the vast majority of the community. Everyone else loves the Big Beef & Cheddar. NIMBYs tend to be most active in stopping development of new pieces of the transportation infrastructure. There's no such program in China, it seems, where MaWeiTao explains the usually productive American system can't measure up.
In the US first politicians would drag their feet making any kind of decision. Then they'd have to move onto the impact study phase which serves to purpose other than making money for a handful of consultants.
Then we'd have a bunch of whiners trying to block the project because of either some perceived environmental impact or because they felt it threatened their "idyllic" community.
Years later construction would finally begin. The construction company would seriously overcharge and the project would take 3 times as long as the already ridiculously long initial estimate. Union labor is in no small part to blame for that. Two guys standing around for every guy working.
And when the project is finally done, it often doesn't properly address the issues it was supposed to resolve because of excessive compromising and poor planning. And the quality of the work would be substandard, not sufficiently resistant to the elements, foundation not adequate to handle load, premature wear, etc.
This is how things today in America get done. Everyone's got an axe to grind but nobody has pride in the work they do.
Harsh words Chairman Me-ow.
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