China has built the world’s largest bullet-train network
(Being a Chinese grew up in Canada, and now working&#x2F;living in the Bay)<p>In my opinion,  most people in the valley or in North America still refuse to give up their lifestyle. They look for something like self-driving cars, all electric-powered &quot;personal&quot; vehicle to invest.  And those still drive on the same road&#x2F;interstates&#x2F;highway infrastructure and don&#x27;t give you the benefits compare with high-speed rails.<p>They don&#x27;t recognize the real priorities - how to transport millions people everyday efficiently, cost-effectively, and most environmentally friendlies.<p>They also don&#x27;t recognize local economy, local businesses thrive with these connected network.  It is proven to be the case in China and Japan.<p>High-speed rail network is what people want - to get from point A to point B quickly. It&#x27;s not something even the most efficient self-driving car with the best MPG electric-powered vehicle can scale for millions of people everyday.<p>Instead of investing into some new technologies, they seem like they refuse to take decades of proven technology and just use it in US (high-speed trains were first invented in Japan in the 60s)<p>But as I understand very well in the culture here, the politics, the corruption, and the oil&#x2F;automative conglomerate will never make this happen for the actual good for the people.<p>I would without a doubt to say the US is in its downfall as it didn&#x27;t pick the priorities to fix the root of the problem.