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Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by xenonite on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:09PM (#45646353)
Specifically w.r.t to advertising: In socialist contries there is often only one single brand of a certain product. This removes the need for advertising. But without competition, productivity goes south with time.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by WalterBright on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:30PM (#45646624)
Socialist products never seem to be competitive in the world market. Nobody wanted to buy Soviet cars outside of the USSR, for example.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by jncfhnb on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:36PM (#45646699)
People seem to like Medicaid just fine though
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by qingcharles on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @02:43AM (#45653113)
Literally in no way comparable to having a single brand of deodorant.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by jncfhnb on Tuesday October 21, 2025 @07:48AM (#45654703)
And yet modern socialists are very keen on public healthcare and not very keen on controlling the means of production to enforce a single brand of deodorant. So… perhaps your mental benchmark is wrong?
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by OkayPhysicist on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:44PM (#45646818)
There are notable exceptions. The AKM and RPG-7 are some of the most widely marketable weapons of all time.
Re:How to Enter a City Like a King by WalterBright on Monday October 20, 2025 @01:58PM (#45647001)
Yes, there are exceptions. The Soviets also poured resources into making quality watches.

But they were unable to generalize this.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, various companies sprang up to sell Soviet goods. I bought a marvelous small telescope, an old-fashioned electro-mechanical telephone, and a mechanical submarine clock. (Note that these were all obsolete technology.) They were all made by former military suppliers.