Good analysis of the situation.
There was a story of an interview with a nail factory manager:
If our quota is number of nails for a year, we make small nails.
If the quota is in kilograms, we make big nails.
If the quota is ever in the value of the nails, they will be made of gold.
That was one of the more interesting books I’ve read in the past ten years. Gist of it was that because of satellite and videotape, the people of the Soviet Block saw just how relatively prosperous were the Western nations. They wanted the same for themselves and more importantly, the brighter future for their children.
All these years, they had been told the Western cultures were poverty-stricken, and their collectivism was paradise. Then they actually saw what was happening, they rebelled.