In my Soviet childhood it was quite permanent, actually. So permanent as a child I would be surprised to hear it's a trouble :-) We used newspapers cut into rectangular pieces, and it was such a usual thing that cultural norms already existed around it. Where I lived, for example, cutting newspapers for bathroom use was definitely a men's chore. A lady could be very angry at her husband, not finding accurate pieces in time of need.

Wow, thanks! This is why I like to err in public sometimes, you never know how interesting things will come your way.

The soviet union was one problem after another of limited availability of goods. I'm glad you are open to this info.

Free markets are self-organizing, and are constantly adapting, evolving, and innovating. Centralized planning (socialism) cannot hope to match it.

Free markets also have no concept of human suffering; they centralise power with the most ruthless and exploitative, and so preference those human traits.

Equating centralised planning with socialism is wrong though. You can have the latter without the former.