That too. I get Barry's point earlier in the thread about how there are always cost overruns. But that doesn't mean cost overruns for bad reasons should just blindly be accepted. Not to start a debate over "this country" vs. "that country," but here's an anecdotal example of the problem on a much smaller scale. When I joined the military in 1988, after doing boot camp and school, I reported to my permanent base in the fall of 1988. We lived in a barracks that had been condemned right about the time the Vietnam War ended, but right next door stood the steel framing for new barracks. Not sure how long the construction had been going on by that time, but it was over 2 more years before they were done and we were able to move in (late Spring 1991). All told, I think it took at least close to 4 years for those hourly contractors to complete a simple building project for the government. Let's contrast that with a similar project I saw in Okinawa during the 6 months I was there in 1989. When I arrived in Okinawa, they were getting ready to start construction on a new barracks that was, coincidentally, next door to the building we were in. They had just started breaking ground when we arrived. Six months later when we left, the building was done and there were people living in it. There's just a different standard where contractors get paid by the project instead of by the hour, and in a government system that is much less tolerant to corruption and waste.