
Why Russia’s Economy Survives - jseliger
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-putins-economy-survives-1483020001
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devoply
> When the Soviet Union confronted this array of challenges in the mid-1980s,
> it promptly collapsed.

Bullshit. Soviet economy was just fine at the end of the Cold War. In fact
Soviet GDP per capita was half that of the US, compared to now where it's like
10% of the US. Many historians agree that there was no economic need for the
Soviet Union to be dismantled.

Article reads of conventional wisdom as advocated by Cold War propaganda about
the Soviet Union.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_Soviet_Union)

~~~
frozenport
The Russian SSR actually seceded, with its delegates citing economic reasons -
in particular giving more than recieving.

Compared to western countries there was a palpable lack of consumer goods.

~~~
woodpanel
Every time I read about the "lack of consumer goods" in the eastern block as
proof of its justified demise I kringe. On the one hand, it sounds just mean
to denounce the efforts of complete nations (unfree or not) by such a mundane
metric as whether you can choose between a plethora of car brands and models
or just choose between "No-Car" and "Car". Having "Car" is still good. But the
difference between output in the west and the east tells so much about how
this diversion must have come about: much, much force. In so many aspects of
daily life.

Most easterners have them, their stories of this ridiculous economy. A friend
of mine owns an ash-tray that is simultaneously a rubber duck (!). But my
favourite story is still the one of once-staunch socialist Dr. Wolfgang
Seiffert who was part of a COMECON conference somewhere in the southern GDR in
the 1960s. There, top economists of the eastern bloc conferred about why there
was an ongoing shortage of toothbrushes in Saxonia. After three weeks he broke
with the idea of central planning (and the mindset that created it):

1) Not only did the system provide a shortage for such an inferior day-to-day
product as toothbrushes

2) The system needed its elite economists to gather for three weeks to find a
solution

3) which they didn't

The eastern bloc's economic prospects were dire from the get-go and some in
the elite knew very early on. It's not a coincidence that Putin comes from one
part of that elite that knew all too well: the KGB.

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refulgentis
Depressing. Is there any reason to think Putin's strategies are unsustainable?

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gragas
How is this depressing? Is it not a good thing that Putin's conservative
fiscal and monetary strategies were able to keep Russia afloat?

~~~
Filligree
Not if you're in a country bordering it.

~~~
gragas
Do you seriously expect Putin, of all people, to raise up neighboring
countries in lieu of Russia? He is a strategist who puts his country above all
else.

This is practically out of Machiavelli's _The Prince_ : Putin "entertains"
neighboring countries and keeps a strong grip over them. But he won't expend
resources on them.

~~~
refulgentis
You have invented a straw man. The parent was referring to activity such as
draining resources and stoking fears in the populace of Estonia. See
[http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/trump-
russia-...](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/trump-russia-
worries-estonia-214511).

Also, Russia's backing of Assad in Syria propped up a dictator assaulting
civilians with banned chemical weapons and lead to the deaths of hundreds of
thousands, and a refugee crisis that disrupted a continent.

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diimdeep
How we supposed to read this paywalled story?

~~~
grzm
Click the "web" link under the submission title and follow the link to the
article on the subsequent page. Some people find it necessary to use an
incognito window.

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Grue3
"Why Venezuela's Economy Survives" (under Chavez)

It won't. Big government and economy stability are incompatible.

