Uwe E. Reinhardt, writing for NYT Economix:
Why and how Americans, who pride themselves on being fussy consumers, have put up with this mid-20th-century rail system is a mystery.
I whole heartedly agree with Reinhardt, but I should point out much of Europe’s infrastructure had to be rebuilt after it was bombed to hell in World War II. I’m not saying that was a good thing, just that Europe probably has more experience rebuilding infrastructure than the U.S. and so is more willing to on an ongoing basis.
Also, people are less willing to do something they aren’t familiar with. To Americans, rebuilding infrastructure is expensive and inconvenient, and because we haven’t done a lot of it recently, we’re skeptical that it’ll be worth it.
Either that or we’re really cheap.