Why infrastructure projects are unaffordable

A recent column by David Brooks in The New York Times begins to explain why infrastructure projects that have been the trademark of this nation for the past century are no longer possible while countries like China and India still have the ability and resources to commit to modern and efficient infrastructure projects.

Read The Paralysis of the State. Here's an excerpt:

. . . Why are important projects now unaffordable? Decades ago, when the federal and state governments were much smaller, they had the means to undertake gigantic new projects, like the Interstate Highway System and the space program. But now, when governments are bigger, they don’t. The answer is what Jonathan Rauch of the National Journal once called demosclerosis. Over the past few decades, governments have become entwined in a series of arrangements that drain money from productive uses and direct it toward unproductive ones.