Most of the gripes in the article are things that "feel" true but no supporting data is presented.

Do public infrastructures and services cost more in inflation adjusted dollars and achieve less? That's a pretty significant claim which needs serious evidence.

The contention that we are in some uniquely incompetent time is also dubious. American history and all history for that matter is loaded with stories of the rise and fall of fakes, cranks and cons.

Daniel Sickles, The origin of the Chase Manhattan company and John Brinkley just off the top of my head.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Sickles https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPMorgan_Chase https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Brinkley