I dont think its appropriate to compare todays government, and their (in)ability to accomplish public works feats, to the industrious government of the 30s and 40s.
In 1931, we began construction of the Hoover Dam. It was completed in 5 years and it was a revolutionary feat of civil engineering technology.
10 years ago, california residents, in a state housing more civil and technological engineering industry than pretty much any other state in the union, voted to approve a project for a high speed railway that incorporates technology that already exists in many other places in the world.
The track still does not exist, and the project has ballooned exponentially over its originally forecasted costs. The CEO of the CHSRA makes more money than the CEO of amtrak and hes managing a track that does not exist, in the most liberal state in the country.
Can we really compare public works in the early 1900s to now?
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