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Could the Soviet Union Have Survived?

• simonblack 6y ago
  The Cold War killed both the United States and the Soviet Union. Both the US and the Soviets ended the Cold War broke and insolvent.The United States "won" the Cold War, but it was a Pyrrhic Victory. What the US had that the Soviets didn't was the Reserve Currency credit card. The Soviets had to declare bankruptcy and start again from scratch, but they started from a level of very little debt. It's taken the best part of twenty-five years, but they have dragged themselves up by their bootlaces and now are doing very well. They have an economy that is in the black, and they have built up very nice levels of currency reserves. The US looked good, but in reality they were just as broke as the Soviets. With the reserve currency credit card they spent like they were still rich and to all outside appearances they were doing fine. But living on a credit card has heavy long-term problems. Today the US is 26 trillion dollars (maybe even more) in debt. They have no hope in Hell of ever paying that down. When the inevitable monetary collapse happens, the US won't be having to rebuild from a low level of debt like Russia did, but they will have to start rebuilding from enormous levels of debt. That will keep the US impoverished for probably a century at least, if not forever.