Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by lucian1900 on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:22AM
(#30114898)
You mean countries that started off much poorer than the US, yet the standard of living drastically improved during the socialist period? Then drastically dropped after 89, when the imperialists won the Cold War?
Just because poor countries become socialist doesn't mean socialism makes them poor. Consider that they were kept poor and socialism is the way out.
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by MadSudaca on Friday January 28, 2022 @11:15AM
(#30116573)
Socialism makes countries poor. In countries with corrupt governments, poverty is reached markedly faster. If socialist countries don’t become totally destitute, it’s because they manage not to mess up capitalism completely.
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by chasd00 on Friday January 28, 2022 @04:26PM
(#30120577)
"If socialist countries don’t become totally destitute, it’s because they manage not to mess up capitalism completely."
or lucky enough to have a goose laying golden eggs. i.e. the North Sea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_oil
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by wizzwizz4 on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:22AM
(#30114224)
I don't think “communist ideas” is well-defined. Could you explain what you mean by the phrase?
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by retrac on Friday January 28, 2022 @08:48AM
(#30114497)
Not OP but it seemed unambiguous to me given "countries that have adopted". The countries that proclaimed themselves communist at some point -- the Soviet Union, China, Yugoslavia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Angola, etc. (Most no longer exist, only Cuba, Vietnam, China and Laos are governed by self-described communist parties today.)
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by p_l on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:27AM
(#30114978)
And a lot of those countries had standard of living sharply rise during communist era. People really, really under appreciate how bad conditions were in many of those countries for those who weren't creme de la creme of society, or how much for example interwar Poland history is kept silent about the squalor and poverty of huge portion of the society.
Yes, for various reasons economic systems in many of them failed (or in few cases, it was nationalistic strife that dealt the blow), but others learnt lessons from it (for example, about badly defining and strictly adhering to plans, or too high concentration in one company, etc.)
Re:In the end, you're treated like a spy, says MIT scientist
by wizzwizz4 on Friday January 28, 2022 @09:55AM
(#30115353)
What about countries that only adopted two “communist ideas”? What if a country adopted hundreds of them, but didn't call itself communist? What if No True Communist Society does XYZ thing that all of the countries on your list have done?
You can't talk effectively about something until everybody agrees on what the words mean.
It would make it less likely for the country to shoot itself in the foot and radically lower the standards of living of its citizens, like happened and, unfortunately, still happens, in every country that adopted communist ideas in their government.