One reason Elon Musk is a force of nature is his optimism that the U.S. can still accomplish great things.  Just witness his prediction that humans can land on Mars in seven to 10 years.  That kind of can-do attitude is rare in bureaucratic America entangled in red tape.

It didn’t used to be that way. The Empire State Building was built in just over a year. NASA landed on the moon only seven years after a US astronaut first went into orbit.

These days, plans for new subways in New York or high-speed rail in California are measured in decades.

How did America go from a nation of builders to a country strangled by red tape?

A new video by our friends at Kite & Key Video explains the red tape that snarls almost any project now.