It is well known outside of America that the American trains are bad. I suppose Americans just go by car or airplane, so it doesn't matter much.

I really disliked the article, too. So Hongkong airport is impressive. Hm, maybe some dictatorship has shelled out serious money to make an impression? Somehow it reminds me of the dot com boom - the companies who spent the most were to first to go bankrupt...

Be careful, it wasn't the current Chinese regime that executed the rash of infrastructure improvement projects in Hong Kong in the 90's. In fact, the vast majority of the projects were initiated and executed by large British engineering and architectural firms to milk as much money out of building projects prior to the turn over to Chinese rule in 1999.

I didn't even want to make any claims about China. Maybe the super airport makes business sense. Just saying that a pretty appearance doesn't prove that a great economy is behind it.