Money was diverted to their war machine fighting the Americans. Their economy was 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the US but they were spending 2/3 of America's military

Money was diverted to their war machine fighting the Americans. Their economy was 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the US but they were spending 2/3 of America's military budget so up to 20% of their GDP was going to the war machine. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/31/world/soviet-military-budget-128-billion-bombshell.html http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/31/world/soviet-military-budg... https://www.quora.com/What-was-it-like-to-live-in-the-Soviet-Union-or-Eastern-Europe-during-the-Cold-War https://www.quora.com/What-was-it-like-to-live-in-the-Soviet... > The cold war. Given the failing economy, what limited resources were available went to the military and the related science fields. The Soviet Union had lots and lots of tanks, a huge army and countless nuclear missiles. Somehow I have a feeling that the Soviet education was also quite good, it's just that the money was going elsewhere. Most other areas were quite neglected. Apparently in the 80s they had problems producing consumer goods in general due to a declining economy and bad quality control and manufacturing processes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_goods_in_the_Soviet_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_goods_in_the_Soviet_U...