> > moving back towards an inefficient state controlled economy > Didn't the Soviets go from agrarian to superpower and give the US a merry chase before collap

> > moving back towards an inefficient state controlled economy > Didn't the Soviets go from agrarian to superpower and give the US a merry chase before collapsing? This might be a long arc. The source for their leap "from agrarian to superpower" came from the satellite states that they had in control, and their usage of 5 year plans to accelerate growth of their heavy industries, at the sacrifice of growth in consumer-oriented industries. Nationally, the USSR was able to catch up quickly to the US after WWII, and likewise pull off some punches to publicly show their superiority in certain fields: - Internal political resistance to the transistor & computer tech in general made them laggards when it came to alleviating bureaucratic inefficiencies. They were initially on good paces to catch up technologically with the US, but their reliance on reverse engineering & not building up their own advancements meant that the gap would inevitably widen as they'd always be playing catch up to the Western space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHdqPBrtH8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnHdqPBrtH8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOD5f-q0as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOD5f-q0as - The lack of development into the consumer-oriented industries compared to the Western sphere in general made the economies of the USSR reliant on the State to shoulder that burden, making them penultimately responsible for placating the wants of the USSR citizens. - The below-market oil transfer agreements made to keep the USSR sphere of influence together (CMEA/Comecon) came under strain as the USSR was unable to keep growth in their oil production/exports at a consistently high rate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZ1eMlzwhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZ1eMlzwhc