Bkmrk.
Even Americans have forgotten the massive wealth of capitalism, since the government has turned so hard towards socialist policies.
yup, same as when the Grapes of Wrath came out the commies tried to use it as propaganda against the US till they found out the the real message it put out was that even the poor in the US had cars and trucks and freedom of movement,,, it quickly and quietly went away
If I recall there was a similar story about Kruschev. This is not surprising.
I went to an open air market in Siberia in the 1980s. A very large, multiple kiosks set up. 85% of the area had nothing but old detritus in empty bins.
There were two products for sale. Battered, wilted, soft cabbages, or some paper wrapped blocks of what was supposed to be shortening or cooking lard. These blocks were very suspicious looking. Dirty, translucent gray like congealed slush. I suppose it was to fry the bruised cabbages.
This, mind you, was what they were showing western tourists. I don’t know how the po’ folks were doing.
Stationed in Germany, I took a trip to East Berlin a couple of months before the wall fell. I went through a few of the stores. I’ll never forget the complete lack of everything.
If Americans weren’t chained to all of the world’s jetsam and the liberal America- hating meddlers, we would be living in a paradise.
It goes back further.
In the late 70s - early 80s I had to ‘escort’ foreign students, find them lodgings, etc.
I put one group of Rumanian students in an apartment and took them to a supermarket.
When they saw the meat displays then went bonkers, got extra grocery carts and started filling them up. I asked them why. They said, “We have to get this meat before it is all gone!” I told them that their freezer was not big enough to hold all of that meat. I then told them not to worry and that the meat display would be full again tomorrow. They were not believing me. I had to take them to the supermarket the next day to show them. ;-)
No wonder Yelstin was impressed.
Read the book MIG Pilot by Viktor Belenko. As a boy, he was shown photos of Depression era food lines. But he always wondered who owned all the cars on the streets if everyone was that poor.
When he was brought to America, he thought the CIA had a fake grocery store because no one was waiting in line for food. It was only when he was able to roam America on his own that he found out how prosperous America was.
He bought some tinned meat. He couldn’t read what it said. He ate it on crackers. Friends asked him when he had gotten a cat because the tins were cat food. He kept eating because it was better than the human food in the USSR!
Khrushchev visited the US in 1960. First to New York and the UN for his ‘bury you’ speech, then he saw a farm in Coon Rapids, Iowa.
Then on to LA where he went to a football game at the LA Coliseum. After the game he knowingly winked to the LA chief of police and complimented him on the extravagant show the chief had put on for him, especially the huge quantity of food the chief had provided for the crowd to eat. He also wondered how they had moved all the cars he saw from city to city to impress him.
He wanted to visit Disneyland but wasn’t allowed to for security reasons. It was a major diplomatic situation.
About 10 years ago I was shopping at a local store and the manager was giving directions to his meat department. They were expecting a visit from some Russian big-wig and he wanted everything from the back put out in the cases. He wanted them to see the cases packed!
The look on his face in the Supermarket could only be matched by the President of Venezuela visiting the Factory that makes Toilet Paper for Costco.
Don’t worry! President Bernie will set things right and queuing for groceries will become the newest ‘in thing.’ Millennials will finally have to wait for something.
Sad to say there are many here that want more government involvement in food production with the result of fewer choices and higher prices.
They complain with their mouth full.........................
This is a great thread. The kind of thing that drew me to FR way back.
socialism is nothing but a parasite that in America lives off capitalism, experiments with social programs that all fail, and is a grave disservice to humanity by offering the illusion of “caring” for fellow man, while in fact it destroys “fellow man”...
individualism and self reliance are the essence of humanity.... religion and moral values temper selfishness and charity is the mechanism, not stealing through taxation. Capitalism does not exist in the USA, rather a warped, crony kickback form of capitalism does, which gives the multinationals and big donors control of the government to the detriment of society... America would be totally different if lobbyists and largte donors and PACs were eliminated and a government pool of limited campaign funds were used... the USA election is bought .... the msot money wins ... the media is leftward biased and joe sixpack is ill informed... and the 2 party system is a failure.
the USSA has become much like pre 92 russia in as much as 45% of americans are now not paying any taxes and thus dont care, as long as they get the free stuff and can watch sports, tv and gorge themselves with excessive food and drink and drugs...
Shoulda took him to a liquor store. Shelves stocked with multiple brands of vodka and other liquors woulda really blowed his mind.