X-Message-Number: 28386
Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2006 21:20:25 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Re: Economics; David Stodolsky (off topic)
References: <>

In Cryonet #28377 David Stodolsky wrote in part:

>"Similarly, the state 
>planning system of the USSR generated annual growth rates of 12-14. %. 
>during industrialization of the Soviet Union - achieving in a single 
>generation what took capitalist economies much longer. Leading 
>sociologists attribute the collapse of the USSR to the lack of 
>democracy, not economic problems, in the first instance."

Sorry David, you must have picked those figures straight out of some 

Soviet propaganda publication.  Nothing could be further from the 

facts.  The top-down planning of the governments of the socialist 

countries (no country was ever communist) of the East Block was 

an unmitigated disaster from day one.

  

I remember in fall of 1948 in East Germany you could buy green 

(unripe) tomatoes everywhere.  There were mountains of them 

piled up on tables in markets and stores everywhere, offering 

tomatoes by the tonne, but such staples as potatoes and bread 

were extremely scarce. 

Nevertheless we were told, that we were making great strides 

forward.




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