I don't claim to know much about California bureaucracy, but in my own state, just in the past decade:

- The 787 was years late and over budget

- The 520 bridge was years late and over budget

- The 99 tunnel was years late and over budget

- Microsoft doesn't seem to schedule releases (publicly) or use calendar years for version numbers any more, but from where I sit, Windows hasn't exactly been a shining example of success in the past decade, either

These are public and private, across completely disparate engineering fields. California may be dysfunctional but everybody else is, too. If someone in this country can still "build big", who is doing it?