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It is amazing how long the USSR lasted as long as it did. I think in the end all communist regimes fell because of the failures of central planning(even though

It is amazing how long the USSR lasted as long as it did. I think in the end all communist regimes fell because of the failures of central planning(even though it bore gems like Linear Programming and Ukraine's then booming agriculture and the Space program). I think its failures were tied to economic failures, if you can make the economy work for the masses, people really don't care for much else it seems....

paulddraper 9y ago
> if you can make the economy work for the masses, people really don't care for much else it seems.... "It's the economy, stupid"
qbaqbaqba 9y ago
China seems to have hit the sweet spot(?).
- umanwizard 9y ago
  China does not have a communist regime, despite the name.
  - disordinary 9y ago
    Most capitalistic country I've ever been to.
  - InclinedPlane 9y ago
    Neither did the Soviet Union to be honest. Like so many things, what it's called and what it is are different entities. The USSR was a communist-inspired totalitarian command economy. It was not as unprecedented an invention as many would imagine. It was similar to many systems of monarchic and aristocratic rule, the only difference was that the requirements for membership in the aristocracy were ideologically tinged rather than predominantly based on notions of hereditary nobility. It also would have seemed fairly familiar to anyone who had lived under a Bronze age palatial city-state command economy. Modern China has also only ever had an ideologically tinged totalitarian command economy, though they loosened up in the '90s or so and became more of some variant of crony capitalism (just like us!).
- yeukhon 9y ago
  I would argue China has moved away from Communism since Deng Xiaoping. Deng recongized in order for China to become a global superpower, China must embrace globalization and do trading with other countries. While the state still owns most of the wealth, the core Communism is more of a political basis and perhaps even just a symbol. The Chinese Communist Party now promote ehat’s known as “Chinese-style socialistic capitalism” (中國特色社會資本主義), which in its simplest interpretation means state-controlled capitalism. Chinese welcomes foreign investors, encourage Chinese private business to grow while the country remains single-party. “In some emerging markets, the rich are allowed to stash their wealth offshore, which starves their country of investment funds. China kept its capital account firmly shut, trapping savings in the country. Its Party-controlled banks then directed these funds to state firms that built everything from highways to bullet trains, transforming a backward nation into a modern one.” [1] Despite wealth is still controlled by the government and top executives (Alibaba, Tencent for example), Chinese’s middle class and grass-root can still enjoy a relatively good life. The challenges the government now face are (1) undeveloped frontier, (2) boiling housing market, and (3) stablize growth. The government is fear of a slowdown and a market bubble). It’s amazing how the Chinese government is effective in growing the country. I don’t like its dictorial regime, but when our American state, local and federal governments are so indecisive and constantly arguing over a budget to fix our fragile physical infrastructure like bridges and electricity, and how much relief aids we should provide to Puerto Rico, I ought to ask if there’s anything we can learn from Chinese... For those living outside of the US, Congress hasn’t been able to approve our annual spending/budget bill... the next deadline is Jan 19, and if we do not pass this budget bill, we will face a “shutdown”. We have to deal woth this threat almost every year in the last several years... [1]: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1843949/democracy-done-economic-model http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1843949/...
disordinary 9y ago
The issue with trade though was a lack of foreign currency not a lack of resources, they bartered not because they had no money but because they had no international money because no one would buy from them because of an embargo.

paulddraper 9y ago

> if you can make the economy work for the masses, people really don't care for much else it seems.... "It's the economy, stupid"

qbaqbaqba 9y ago

China seems to have hit the sweet spot(?).

umanwizard 9y ago
China does not have a communist regime, despite the name.
- disordinary 9y ago
  Most capitalistic country I've ever been to.
- InclinedPlane 9y ago
  Neither did the Soviet Union to be honest. Like so many things, what it's called and what it is are different entities. The USSR was a communist-inspired totalitarian command economy. It was not as unprecedented an invention as many would imagine. It was similar to many systems of monarchic and aristocratic rule, the only difference was that the requirements for membership in the aristocracy were ideologically tinged rather than predominantly based on notions of hereditary nobility. It also would have seemed fairly familiar to anyone who had lived under a Bronze age palatial city-state command economy. Modern China has also only ever had an ideologically tinged totalitarian command economy, though they loosened up in the '90s or so and became more of some variant of crony capitalism (just like us!).
yeukhon 9y ago
I would argue China has moved away from Communism since Deng Xiaoping. Deng recongized in order for China to become a global superpower, China must embrace globalization and do trading with other countries. While the state still owns most of the wealth, the core Communism is more of a political basis and perhaps even just a symbol. The Chinese Communist Party now promote ehat’s known as “Chinese-style socialistic capitalism” (中國特色社會資本主義), which in its simplest interpretation means state-controlled capitalism. Chinese welcomes foreign investors, encourage Chinese private business to grow while the country remains single-party. “In some emerging markets, the rich are allowed to stash their wealth offshore, which starves their country of investment funds. China kept its capital account firmly shut, trapping savings in the country. Its Party-controlled banks then directed these funds to state firms that built everything from highways to bullet trains, transforming a backward nation into a modern one.” [1] Despite wealth is still controlled by the government and top executives (Alibaba, Tencent for example), Chinese’s middle class and grass-root can still enjoy a relatively good life. The challenges the government now face are (1) undeveloped frontier, (2) boiling housing market, and (3) stablize growth. The government is fear of a slowdown and a market bubble). It’s amazing how the Chinese government is effective in growing the country. I don’t like its dictorial regime, but when our American state, local and federal governments are so indecisive and constantly arguing over a budget to fix our fragile physical infrastructure like bridges and electricity, and how much relief aids we should provide to Puerto Rico, I ought to ask if there’s anything we can learn from Chinese... For those living outside of the US, Congress hasn’t been able to approve our annual spending/budget bill... the next deadline is Jan 19, and if we do not pass this budget bill, we will face a “shutdown”. We have to deal woth this threat almost every year in the last several years... [1]: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1843949/democracy-done-economic-model http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1843949/...

disordinary 9y ago

The issue with trade though was a lack of foreign currency not a lack of resources, they bartered not because they had no money but because they had no international money because no one would buy from them because of an embargo.