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I think it's short-termism combined with capitalism.
Capitalism tells people that success equals money. Short-termism tells people to focus on how much they can grab right now.
Look at the actions of C-suite level people. They do what they can to increase profits this year to get a massive bonus this year. If that means laying off half the company that's ok because they're incentivised to maximise profits now. So they do. The next year they're off to a different job at a different company and they will get that job because "When I was CEO of Mongoose & Felcher I increased YOY global profit by 270%". Their focus is never on the actual well-being of the company or its employees or on the social or environmental impact of the company because their bonus isn't dependent on those things.
Politicians are much the same. If they're not in power they want to get into power. If they are in power they have to act as quickly as possible to achieve their aims because they might only be in power for a single term.
One of my favourite 'business' ideas came from Gus Levy who was CEO of Goldman Sachs back in the 1970s. He came up with the term 'long-term greedy.' The idea was that you dealt fairly and honestly with your clients, never gouged them, kept your word, and did a good job. Sure, you might make slightly less profit from those clients this year but you would keep them as clients next year too.
No-one seems to be long-term greedy anymore.
The CCP seems to factor this into at least some of their decisions. Their infrastructure projects (like any infrastructure projects) take years, sometimes decades, to pay off, but boy howdy do they pay off.
They also pay off in a lot of ways besides the pure "dollar in/dollar out" kind of way that I think people forget about a lot. Things like soft power, economic growth, and cultural alliance are all incredibly powerful things.
Its a shame the current administration is trying to gut the last 80 years of work the US has put into those things.
I don't consider myself to be any type of greedy, but that's how I ran my business. At least 97% of my clients were regulars, and almost all were recommended by a neighbor or coworker. I did very little advertising, but was busy 12-16 hours a day, every day.