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The a priori assumption that America must be unique in some respect such as geography that means there is nothing to learn from other countries is part of the problem.

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Both of my first two sentences were dedicated to the fact that America should learn from other countries. There is lots to learn, but our geography is also quite unique relative to Europe and Japan.

I'm not sure how having different geography means there isn't still lots to learn in the area where those countries are ahead. Like a company can be using a different programming language doesn't completely detract from learning how to use version control.

Part of what Alon is saying is that for USA we are ahead in most other stuff and so we don't have this expectation to learn from other countries but we are behind in this area.

Then compare to China and Russia, both of which have better high-speed (in Russia's case, I'd say the same as the US - a single high-traffic corridor, but its faster than its American counterpart), slower intercity, regional, urban public transit. Both are bigger, with serious geographic challenges, and poorer than the US.

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