> On Sep 5, 11:05 pm, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:
>

>> As an example the Soviets, when they existed as a left wing form of
>> totalitarianism, invented the satellite,....

>
> Please. All of the basic technology was invented in the West,
> primarily in Germany and the USA. The Soviets usurped it, poured
> billions into it for its propaganda value while their people were
> standing on line for bread.
>

>> ... The
>> unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the
>> Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race within
>> the Cold War.

>
> And in a matter of a few years we completely surpassed them.
>
> Are you also forgetting that when the Soviets finally realized they
> could not even remotely "catch us" let alone as Khrushchev boasted,
> "bury us", that their economy completly imploded, i.e. when its false
> facade was finally revealed for the fakery it was. We now know of
> course - despite their apologists attempts to cover it up - that they
> were years, even decades, behind us in almost all areas. Almost all
> Soviet era factories have had to either be closed down or completely
> re-tooled to update them to Western standards.
>
> The concept of scarcity in economics of course does apply - to managed
> economies such as the Soviet where it was rampant in virtually every
> category except perhaps concentration camps.
>
> Fred Weiss