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To: Luis Gonzalez
Again, no one, including Adam Smith, is suggesting that the manufacturing of our weapons, and defense systems, can be offshored or even outsourced, that's suicidal.
All the points contained apply to consumerism, not national defense.


Wrong. The Soviet Union failed because it developed only national defense and for consumer goods relied largely on imports. They could not develop any other industries because automation was a big NO-NO. See, the worker class was the source of political power. Stagnating consumer industries and suppressed innovation led to the fallout. But we are seeing the same here. Manufacturing feeds engineering with problems and money, that is what fuels science in turn. The US is starting to look quite like the SU before the fallout - an eroded manufacturing base with engineering and science employed only by the military. It ain't pretty.
62 posted on 03/20/2004 9:39:40 AM PST by CrucifiedTruth (The Crucified Truth lives forever.)
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To: CrucifiedTruth
"The Soviet Union failed because it developed only national defense and for consumer goods relied largely on imports."

Excuse me?

The Soviet Union failed because they embraced more of Marx's theories, just like Willie Green does.

The main fault with the Soviet system was Marx's Labor Theory of Value.

67 posted on 03/20/2004 9:51:38 AM PST by Luis Gonzalez (Unless the world is made safe for Democracy, Democracy won't be safe in the world.)
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To: CrucifiedTruth
The day before the Russians abolished price controls, the streets and markets were devoid of consumer goods. The day after the Russians abolished price controls, the streets and markets were full of consumer goods, and people were buying, selling, and trading as if Communism had all been a very bad dream -- which it was.

The Soviet Union failed because people had no incentive to do more than the absolute minimum it took to collect a paycheck. If you are going to get the same pay no matter how hard you work, you are not going to work very hard.

Entrepreneurs work hard because they want to get rich, or at least comfortable, or at least have some extra walking around money. And only entrepreneurs are willing to take chances. Everybody else loves safety.

Cuba is instructive on this point. All over the world, people make a little extra money over and above their regular wages by doing things like cutting hair for the neighbors, or crocheting dolls, or taking photographs at weddings, or making fudge, or selling Avon. In Cuba, this is outlawed. It's sadistic, it's insane, but that's Communism for you.
122 posted on 03/20/2004 7:09:17 PM PST by CobaltBlue
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