Good one, Neal. I would add to all the reasons above two others: our collectivist-based corruption which leads us to make sure resources for every public project get distributed across family, friends, neighbors are far as possible. Of course nobody sees this as corruption because it isn't the selfish form of corruption we see in, say, Chicago. And then there is our constant conflation of low self-esteem with humility. We act like it is not humble to expect anything more than we get; but we are really saying "we don't deserve better than this."