I think people should stop using their personal experiences to support an argument that requires data on a much larger scale.
For example, OC claims there has been an alarming rise in degradation of public infrastructure in the US. Does the hard data really support this? If so, I'd love to see it (seriously). Observations from personal travel are virtually meaningless in this context.
Do you apply this standard to all beliefs you have? It’s interesting that you wrote what you did when you could have done a search and found some answers. From the third link below:
Meanwhile, Americans’ international peers enjoy more efficient and reliable services, and their public investment in infrastructure is on average nearly double that of the United States.....The United States generally lags behind its peers in the developed world. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, in 2016 the United States ranked [PDF] tenth in the world in a broad measure of infrastructure quality—down from fifth place in 2002. That places it behind countries like France, Germany, Japan, and Spain.
The Interstate 35W Bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis 2007, I used that four or more times a day on average shortly before its demise. The story was similar throughout Minnesota and proved poisonous to the then-governor who wanted to starve the state.
For us, we based our decision not on infrastructure alone but rather total system health. We need to be able to adequately commit to maintenance and future-proofing our societies, not kicking the metaphorical can down the road.
For example, OC claims there has been an alarming rise in degradation of public infrastructure in the US. Does the hard data really support this? If so, I'd love to see it (seriously). Observations from personal travel are virtually meaningless in this context.