Chapter 1562 I like this place but I won’t live here
Charles thought for a long time and said, "I still think you're kidding me! Why would anyone drink toilet water?"
Xiao Peng laughed and said, "Back then, our country had an article about Japanese Cabinet Minister Noda Seiko. It talked about how conscientious and responsible she was when she was a hotel cleaner. The general content was that she went to work in a hotel, and the hotel asked her to clean the bathroom. She felt so wronged that she was crying. At this time, an old employee of the hotel appeared in front of her. Without saying a word, he picked up his tools and scrubbed the toilet over and over again until it was as clean as new. Then the old employee picked up a cup and filled a glass of water from the toilet and drank it directly. This shocked Noda Seiko, and then she started scrubbing the toilet too. Because she was extremely confident in her work, she also started drinking the toilet water she had scrubbed. Later, she became the youngest county councilor and later a cabinet minister!"
Charles was silent for a moment before saying, "How could anyone believe such nonsense? Damn it, the water used in the toilet is recycled water, not potable tap water! Is that stuff drinkable?"
Xiao Peng snapped his fingers. "You hit the nail on the head: You know toilets use recycled water, not tap water, but if you ask anyone in this bar, most will probably tell you they use tap water too. Ignorance is why I believed those lies. I was ignorant back then, too, so of course I believed them. It wasn't until I later discovered that Noda Seiko's grandfather, Noda Uichi, had held important positions in Japan, including Director-General of the Economic Planning Agency, Director-General of the Administrative Management Agency, and Minister of Construction, and that his family was a well-established chaebol family, that I seriously considered this question: Would such a rich girl clean toilets in a hotel? Alas, I was too naive."
After hearing this, Charles thought for a long time and burst out laughing. "Now I'm sure that you Daxia people really don't like the Japanese. This is a roundabout way of scolding them. But friend, can you answer me a question?"
"Hmm?" Xiao Peng was stunned. "What's the problem?"
Charles asked, "What do you think of us in Texas?"
Xiao Peng was silent for a moment: "Should I tell the truth?"
Charles nodded: "Of course I'm telling the truth."
Xiao Peng said, "This place is much better than I imagined, especially the Texans, who are so hospitable and generous. But I don't think I will live here."
"Why?" Charles asked curiously.
Xiao Peng explained, "I'm not saying this place is bad. The environment is good enough, but I still prefer lively and convenient places. The big cities here are okay, but these small towns are really... well, they're inconvenient for everything. You can't do anything without a car. Since transportation is so important, the infrastructure here is a mess. The highways are okay, but the roads after getting off the highway are simply unbearable! It's a little better in the city, but I have to drive very carefully outside the city. No wonder there are so many pickup trucks here. Well, Charles, I can tell you this: the Americans are ahead of Daxia in many aspects, but when it comes to infrastructure, your data on paper is good, but in reality, you're far behind!"
Charles sighed and said, "I fully understand what you're saying. This road in our town was built in 1957. Aside from a few repairs, it's basically unchanged since 1957. Most roads in the US are over half a century old and should have been obsolete by now."
Xiao Peng said, "This is what I don't understand. During the epidemic, your country allocated 1.9 trillion yuan to give all eligible citizens 1,400 US dollars each, and has been providing subsidies to ordinary people throughout the epidemic. Why can't you use money for infrastructure?"
Charles sighed, "We understand the problem you're talking about. Trump himself is a real estate developer. Ever since he came to power, he's been hoping to upgrade his infrastructure. But even now? It's completely impossible! Our country simply can't carry out infrastructure-related projects."
"Why?" Xiao Peng asked puzzledly.
"Various reasons!" Charles said succinctly. "First of all, it's inefficient! A while ago, an apartment building collapsed in Florida, burying over a hundred people in the rubble. The rescue effort was like an archaeological operation. Not a single person was rescued in the 'golden 72 hours,' and after more than ten days, the rescue team only dug out a cat. And the local county mayor gloated to reporters, 'It's a miracle!' Having such an idiot as mayor is truly a miracle!"
Xiao Peng asked curiously, "Char, I really don't understand why your infrastructure is like this. Your infrastructure should be something that the whole world looks up to."
His words were not undue politeness. The American infrastructure was once the envy of the whole world. They were the "infrastructure maniacs" on the planet and created many miraculous infrastructure projects.
For example, the Golden Gate Bridge, with a total length of 2.7 kilometers and the highest pier reaching 342 meters, was built in 1932. Even today, there are still few countries that have the ability to build such a bridge. There is also the Panama Canal built in 1914, which is still the "world bridge" connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There is also the 103-story Empire State Building in New York, which took only 410 days from the groundbreaking to completion in 1931. Even today, this construction speed is super amazing. At that time, due to equipment limitations, construction workers could only pull steel bars by hand, but they could build one meter a day. This efficiency is terrifying. And even today, they are still the world's number one country with the most airports, the most dams, the most bridges and other infrastructure projects.
Even though the people of Daxia are proud of their railways, in fact, the country with the longest total railway mileage in the world is still the United States.
The Americans were heavily involved in railway construction over a century ago, back when the entire country was practically covered by rail lines. At its peak, the total length of railways reached 410,000 kilometers! Although half of the railways are now abandoned, nearly 230,000 kilometers are still in operation! And what about Daxia? Currently, the total length of railways is only 120,000 kilometers, a little over half of what the United States had, less than a third of what Daxia had in its heyday.
However, Daxia has been vigorously building railways in recent years, and the number has been increasing, while the situation in the United States is just the opposite, with railway lines being abandoned every year.
Of course, this refers to ordinary railway lines. If we calculate the high-speed rail mileage, Daxia is undoubtedly the world's number one. Basically, 65% of all the high-speed rail mileage in the world is in Daxia.
But it must be said that the US infrastructure is still very strong. After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. It’s just that their infrastructure projects are a bit old, and most of them were built half a century ago.
After hearing Xiao Peng's praise, Charles said, "What's so strange about this? Everyone knows that infrastructure construction is unprofitable. Naturally, no one would do it."
"What the hell?" Xiao Peng asked, eyes wide. "You're not wrong, are you? Infrastructure construction is unprofitable? Are you misunderstanding something?"
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