I agree the time horizon is different in other cultures. France took 20 years to get its economy running on 75% nuclear power. China has embarked on long-term infrastructure projects.

However, having a longer time horizon is not entirely a good thing either. It's a benefit if the long-term project you pick and commit resources to is a good idea; but it's much worse than the short time horizon case if the long-term project you pick is a bad idea. (Some posters in this thread have argued that the Apollo project itself is an example of the latter.)