The Soviet Union never was in that position. I don't think it quite happened this way. No matter how efficient they were, we were big enough that they couldn't ever catch up. Any efficiencies they achieved just prolonged the time until they collapsed from exhaustion. I've always thought Stalin was a Russian nationalist, not any kind of communist.
Competition produces waste.
Fly the centrally managed skies of United Airlines, where every seat on every flight is micromanaged, etc. I wonder what The United States would be like to live in if we were pushed up against the wall like The Soviet Union always was. Brad McCormick, Ed.