Our lack of building is directly tied to dollar reserve currency policy. We export a lot of dollars; other countries export goods to the US and end up with dollars. The things they can invest their dollar in are dollar-based assets. That results in the massive consumer sector and bubble dynamics. Simultaneously, calls to "reinvest in America" fall on deaf ears, because this reserve currency model needs free trade, and free trade allows capital to uproot and leave a place, whether in a direct sense or through creative loopholes. So long as the balance sheet of the assets is prioritized, the country cannot invest in its people, because that will show up as a cost(in tax, benefits, or regulation). Balance-sheet efficiency means consolidating and centralizing profits while outsourcing costs, and what is actively supported by policy and investment is whatever the market is hyped for(dot coms, social media, crypto, AI), which results in technical development towards the ends of oligarchs. Nothing new can be built unless it's pitched in terms of profit and market share.
The current regime is the endgame: The distortions grew large enough to cause a flip to mercantalist policy-making and winner-loser dynamics. It has a short-term logic to it, but it is also incompatible with where we are. All the biggest businesses in modern America were built around dollar debt, consumerism and outsourcing, and all the workers were likewise tied to either the fortunes of these businesses or the government itself. All it'll do is produce a crisis, which can only resolve through a more holistic policy framework.
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