This is a pretty sweeping generalization both on the Europe+China side and the US side.
I'm certain that there are cities in Europe and China that struggle just as much with corruption and graft as NYC does and there are also cities in the US that have substantially less corruption and graft than NYC. It's just that it's vogue right now to cherry pick American problems and European/Chinese successes rather than the other way around.
This type of pseudo-intellectual skepticism seems typical for HN, but the truth is that the NYC subway is an absolute horror show compared to the subway systems of equally or more corrupt European/Chinese cities.
I am actually baffled that this is even up for debate... Have you seen/smelled the NYC subway? Yes, it's NYC's most used public utility other than perhaps water and electricity, but people use it despite its qualities.
I'm not questioning that NYC's subway is a disaster. Yes, I've spent time in it and have spent time in a few specific European subways and am well aware of the difference.
I'm all for questioning why NYC's subway is worse than London's. I just think that questioning why "cities in Europe and China can afford all this stuff and we (Americans) can’t" is a bad framing: it's so general as to be meaningless and perpetuates misleading stereotypes about both sides of the pond.
The fact at hand is that NYC specifically is a deeply corrupt and extremely filthy city by any standard, European or American.
I'm certain that there are cities in Europe and China that struggle just as much with corruption and graft as NYC does and there are also cities in the US that have substantially less corruption and graft than NYC. It's just that it's vogue right now to cherry pick American problems and European/Chinese successes rather than the other way around.