The race to the bottom has taken a lot of brightness out of the world, its quite sad imo.
Anecdotally, my home town replaced a three way intersection with a nice roundabout and then put up a little art piece in the center of it. People complained to the heavens about a minor expenditure on an art installation when the money could have gone to, who knows, resurfacing a half block of sidewalk? Not everything needs to be so drab and utilitarian, yet despite the supposed massive output of the economy we've built, we must scrimp and pay bottom dollar for every last thing.
Anecdotally, my home town replaced a three way intersection with a nice roundabout and then put up a little art piece in the center of it. People complained to the heavens about a minor expenditure on an art installation when the money could have gone to, who knows, resurfacing a half block of sidewalk? Not everything needs to be so drab and utilitarian, yet despite the supposed massive output of the economy we've built, we must scrimp and pay bottom dollar for every last thing.