The US is in the peculiar situation where a large portion of the population has been convinced that government cannot be competent and thus shouldn't be expected to be.
Meanwhile, in much of the developed world, people are shocked when a train is a minute late.
Exactly, and for some reason people who make these sort of claims are unable to comprehend the fact that there may be a connection between believing/acting/voting as if government doesn't work and then having underfunded government projects fail hard.
How does one calculate whether a government project is "underfunded?" It seems easy to fall into the trap that a government project is underfunded if it did not meet the expected results. Clearly the solution must be to add more money.
Take public schools, for example. It is often said that public schools are "underfunded." Yet Washington DC schools spend almost 3x the national average per student and has abysmal results.
I'd call it the depressing situation, personally. I wish I could carve out a small corner of the US sometimes where people don't actively sabotage the ability of government to function effectively.
Meanwhile, in much of the developed world, people are shocked when a train is a minute late.