Something one of my disseration advisers said back in the dark ages stuck with me. Basically it was that it's almost inevitable that there's going to be a "corruption tax." Various people will find ways to put their fingers in the cookie jar, contracting procedures are never quite right, etc. But it's one thing if everything just costs 20% or even 50% more than it should, and another thing if we overpay and get shitty public services. It's one thing to overpay the local monopoly politically connected trash company, it's another if they don't bother to pick up the trash.
For some reason public transit construction costs are absurdly expensive, relative to the rest of the world, in this country. OK, maybe we just have to pay the price, but the product shouldn't be so shitty.
