No one wants to pay the true cost of civilization, because it is expensive and humans are cheap and short term driven.

The amount of debt, both on the books (~$36T US federal debt alone) and off books (~$9T for US infra refresh alone, climate, etc) is near $100T, if not more. Everyone's equity would be wiped out if we had to pay up. "Extend and pretend."

Financial Times: Why governments are 'addicted' to debt - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1jhoU9Mp_U

I agree with the sentiment but it's tricky. Logically and technically it totally makes sense but it's expensive and companies look at cost, maintenance, accessibility. Above ground is easier to maintain, less legal hassles and easements among other things. Even when it made sense to bury everything that would affect the investors. There are some rough laws around impacting shareholders. Oh and people are greedy. I probably could have just said people are greedy.