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points by reliabilityguy 1 day ago | 0 comments
> This doesn't even make sense. Poverty is a relative term.

It makes perfect sense. Citizens of USSR were poorer than their counterparts in the west, didn’t have access to the same variety of food, cloth, etc.

I do remember all these things from my childhood, and my parents made more money than the average because they worked for the oil and gas industry that paid extra. So, when people are trying to sell me the whole “collectivism” and anti-rich sentiment, I am a bit wary because no one can explain how “this time” is going to be different — it seems none of the activists/advocates actually lived in such systems, so they have no clue. I lived the consequences, and I do not want it for myself or anyone else.

I would say the point of the economy is to ensure that both the rich get what they want, but also to ensure that others are not poor and left behind. This is not the case today, and thus a series of reforms is needed. But it’s doesn’t make a believer for the “let’s abolish the rich” thing.

[–] whoanoway 1 day ago
> Citizens of USSR were poorer than their counterparts in the west

Because of internal corruption and external embargoes and a government budget that could fund a global cold war.

> collectivism

What kind collectivism can happen when anyone can snitch on their neighbour over made up reasons?

https://www.history.com/articles/kgb-soviet-russia-secret-po...

Just don't do the above, and you're fine.

[–] reliabilityguy 18 hours ago
> Because of internal corruption and external embargoes and a government budget that could fund a global cold war.

The west also funded Cold War, and is not free from corruption.

> Just don't do the above, and you're fine.

How else would you ensure the purity of thought?

[–] throwaway27448 1 day ago
> Citizens of USSR were poorer than their counterparts in the west

Well that's because we're a bunch of greedy bitches who never learned how to play nice with the other kids—capitalism. It would take a hell of a lot more wealth generation for humanity to justify this kind of economic dysfunction.

[–] reliabilityguy 1 day ago
Sure. What else is Americas fault? Did the US force Stalin to make gulag?

Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it

[–] throwaway27448 1 day ago
I mean we made something far worse than the gulag with the american prison system (basically, the punitive theory of rape). It seems we just became all the evil that the soviet system was allegedly supposed to cause from the western perspective 50 years ago.
[–] reliabilityguy 18 hours ago
Yes, taking the whole families in the middle of night and sending them to Siberia to build railroads is exactly the same as American prison, access to attorney, etc.