The same reason our cars are shittier, and our water faucets don't make most excellent whooshing sounds: insufficient German engineers and craftsmanship.
American engineering is always over engineering, but lazy over engineering without any Teutonic perfectionism. Except maybe the various moon shots. Oh, wait.
There are plenty of countries that would have opened BER in the state it was in 5 years ago, either sweeping problems under the rug or fixing them during operation. The airport is as much a testament to bad construction as it is to safety inspections and rules trumping economic interest.
American engineering is always over engineering, but lazy over engineering without any Teutonic perfectionism. Except maybe the various moon shots. Oh, wait.