[michaelt]

  Why are trucks running across the
  US instead of high-capacity trains?

Imagine a country where every company and family follows the rule "Make the investments that, without anyone else changing anything, will pay back my investment fastest"

To use the jargon of game theory they are unable to coordinate; when faced with a stag hunt [1] they will always choose to pursue hares alone instead of pursuing a stag as a team.

In this country, 50 families will buy £10,000 SUVs to deal with a potholed road, as any family resurfacing it alone would spend £100,000, and pooling £2,000 each isn't an option.

Likewise, a trucking company can buy an battery electric truck or a self-driving truck without anyone else changing anything - it can run on the roads that already exist.

Do you suppose such a country would ever end up with trains, or busses, or overhead power cables for electric vehicles?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt

[kungtotte]

I know why, on a practical and political level, why things are the way they are. I'm questioning the status quo: I think policies should be implemented and government funds should be allocated such that we change the current status quo.

I am very much not a believer in the supremacy of the free market.

[magduf]

>I'm questioning the status quo: I think policies should be implemented and government funds should be allocated such that we change the current status quo.

Americans don't believe in this; they believe in the status quo which is not spending anything on infrastructure and letting it decay. Look at who they vote for, and the infrastructural policies they push.