No it does not depend at all. There are people in the USA who have bad outcomes, for sure. But to compare that to soviet-bloc countries is an insult to those

No it does not depend at all. There are people in the USA who have bad outcomes, for sure. But to compare that to soviet-bloc countries is an insult to those who suffered under those totalitarian regimes. It wasn't just the injustices, the corruption, the shortages or the inability to trust anyone - it was also the fact that there was nothing you personally could do to change or improve the situation. Poor people in the USA still have freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom of speech and stores stacked full of cheap food. They also have - no matter how difficult - the ability to change things and improve the lot of themsleves and their families. Of course there are people who were disadvantaged by a change in the system. And of course that changeover was inequitable. But the improvement at scale for the people as a whole is inarguable. It always concerns me to see attempts at historical cleansing and ignorance of the horrors of the past.