That's because, largely, they benefited from the work done prior to their gaining power (nation-wide new infrastructure, etc) and failed to reinvest in the same. Instead, we've seen an epidemic of deferred maintenance and a lack of capital projects. Of course everything is falling apart now!
This is not unlike managers who come in, strip R&D budgets, point to big profits and split before the inevitable crash. All they did was milk the cash-cow. It really is a well established phenomenon.
Right. "Management" people who adhere to that philosophy are glorified by the media, press, etc because they lack vision beyond quarterly results. The worship of short-sighted idiots like Jack Welch, Mark Hurd, Carly Fiorina and MBA-style methodology is destroying American competitiveness. Even Harvard Business School, of all places, says so: http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/03/10/the-surp...
This is not unlike managers who come in, strip R&D budgets, point to big profits and split before the inevitable crash. All they did was milk the cash-cow. It really is a well established phenomenon.