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.
I did the Berlin trip in April after the wall fell. The stores were something else. Stand in line to tell them what you wanted to buy, then stand in another line to pay for it.
Seeing buildings not fixed since WWII shows just how poor they were.
Do you remember the AFRTS PSA announcements warning about the “Trabbis” on the autobahn? LOL!
If you want a modern day example of the effects of socialism, go into a Venezuealan grocery store and look at all the empty shelves. You can’t even get toilet paper. Talk about epic fail. We should send all of our children, on turning 18 years of age, down to Venezuela to live for a month in one of their cities, and shop in their stores. Consider it a field trip; see what they learn. Those young folks that like it can stay there, lol. Separate the wheat from the chaff. It will be an excellent learning experience for all of them.
I took that same tour in 1983. Saw the same.
I was stationed in West Berlin from 84-88 and went into East Berlin many times. Never thought there could be so many different shades of gray.