|
| quote: | Originally posted by Moral Hazard
Not really. The reason they couldn't produce the consumer goods that the people wanted was because their manufacturing base was completely geared toward heavy equipment (vehicles, trains, military machines, etc) when it was set up (you must bear in mind that Russia had very little manufacturing prior to the Soviets... it was a fudel society). When demand for consumer goods started to rise they did not have the foresight or ability to retool their manufacturing accordingly, so they had to import. Remember, the government controled the economy and the factories... they had all the incentive in the world to keep their populace satisfied. |
Ahhhh but a free market society would have filled that need. And the factories that produced heavy goods were not efficient which is why they had to focus on those activities. Also, The government filled its needs first. The same can be seen in our own socialist governments. As i said, when there is no incentive to the populace to put in a hard days work, the economy is going to suffer. This is exactly why socialism (everyone gets the same) doesnt work. Human nature is too dynamic for such a one size fits all idea. Also, such concentrated power breeds corruption which also kills efficiency and incentive.
|