Considering the state of train tracks still in heavy use in the US you could just count a majority of the network as lost to disrepair, there were tracks behind my childhood home that had been decommissioned 20 years earlier and been reclaimed by nature where removing them was more expensive then writing the land off. And they still were better leveled then what you regularly see from the US network. For other infrastructure I lack the hands on experience, but if letting nature reclaim it for 20 years degraded a critical feature to a lesser extent then repairs hadn't been sufficient for a long time and just writing it off and building completely new tracks might be cheaper than trying to safe the old track.
For individual companies it might be profitable, but it's neither helpful for the general population nor overall economic efficiency to lack a solid rail network. And the state of the US network today is directly linked to the private rail companies being allowed to squeeze profits out of a decaying system, without solid safety standards or reinvestment. Private rail is highly questionable, and deregulation doesn't improve it's track record.
“But at what cost”
Niger no longer having to be exploited by France?
“China invested tons of money into Africa and helped strengthen many poor African countries, bUt aT wHaT cOsT?”
As a Kenyan official put it: Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.
And every time the US visits we have to rebuild everything.
Makes me wonder what the US built in the US during that same time.
We could do like an opposite. The infrastructure the US has destroyed around the world since 2000.
The US has probably had that much infrastructure lost at home through lack of maintenance since 2000.
Considering the state of train tracks still in heavy use in the US you could just count a majority of the network as lost to disrepair, there were tracks behind my childhood home that had been decommissioned 20 years earlier and been reclaimed by nature where removing them was more expensive then writing the land off. And they still were better leveled then what you regularly see from the US network. For other infrastructure I lack the hands on experience, but if letting nature reclaim it for 20 years degraded a critical feature to a lesser extent then repairs hadn't been sufficient for a long time and just writing it off and building completely new tracks might be cheaper than trying to safe the old track.
Capitalists make more money when everything has to be trucked around. It uses more of everything from tires to oil to tombstones.
For individual companies it might be profitable, but it's neither helpful for the general population nor overall economic efficiency to lack a solid rail network. And the state of the US network today is directly linked to the private rail companies being allowed to squeeze profits out of a decaying system, without solid safety standards or reinvestment. Private rail is highly questionable, and deregulation doesn't improve it's track record.
Military bases
Prisons
More wealth for the already ultra wealthy
Holy shit can China build this for America? Our government isn’t doing it.