Socialism Survival Podcast # 021: Surviving socialistic Economy
Ladies and gentlemen, I present you very important subject: Surviving socialistic Economy! Today, when socialists are ruling this country and destroying the best economy in the world, almost every American family suffers consequences of their destructive activity. This government sees itself above the constitution and is moving towards hard tyranny.
While it is historically obvious that socialism with its economy is a failure, I won’t take a lot of time presenting you numerous historic facts, although will mention some. Major difference between what we had in Soviet Union as socialistic economy and capitalism is that under capitalism market controls production of goods according to its demand. In other words, if people need something, there will be either existing business to satisfy that need, or new business will pop up with better product, quality and price. A product will be discontinued if people aren’t interested in it anymore. So it is truly people-centered economic system.
Under Socialism State own, controls and plans production and distribution of goods. Well, and services too! Thus it is called “planned” economy, versus market economy. There was State planning office, where everything was planned for 5 years, including quantity, prices, etc. While in the capitalist economy, the company listens to the slightest blows the market, which is transmitted through the data on demand, prices and supply, the Soviet economy worshiped Plan. Implementation of the plan, rather than profitability, has become the main condition for success, and thus the road to the best goods and services, high salaries and rations. This led to temptation to change the reporting, exaggerating the volume of output and understating costs. Statistics, designed to serve as a locator of economic life instead of market mechanisms, has been distorted almost from the beginning of socialism. The lack of bankruptcy proceedings resulted in the fact that the greatest support from the state was received by the least profitable enterprises. This led to huge losses. For example, in late 1970-s production of plain paper in the Soviet Union took in three times more wood than in Finland, and the industrial energy consumption was one of the highest in the world. The super-industrialization course resulted in the complete neglect of investment in agriculture, infrastructure and construction. By mid-1980’s, when food shortages were felt almost all over socialist camp, the share of agriculture in total Soviet economy, according to World Bank estimates, exceeded 20%. In most developed countries of Western Europe it was at 2%. Can’t you see clearly that socialism proved it cannot feed own people, that it is a failure, fraud, huge ponzy scheme?! Soviets boasted of low prices… if you could buy anything with that price tag. Often some things were overpriced and some – under-priced. Salaries also were regulated or standardized. At the heart of Lenin’s economic doctrine was the idea of paying everyone the same average salary, to keep everyone equally happy, whether it was steel worker or medical doctor. Another way they planned to keep people busy and happy was making them change profession frequently. Isn’t that stupid? I think any average member of Soviet society would be happy to work all life in the same place and same position, but receiving twice more on payday. And the quality of their product or service would become better. But, you know by now that system’s priority was achieving utopia, not the common sense. And how about making 5 year plan in 4 ½ years? Why? For the sake of so called socialistic competition. Quality? That wasn’t priority, Soviet people didn’t have a choice of buying something else. A lot of inventions never got to production line. Any innovation had to wait for the next planning period and often never was implemented. Sometimes scientists were witch-hunted by Communist Party. Take cybernetics, for example. Once it was declared for ideological reasons “bourgeois pseudoscience” (the original term of the time), it pushed back scientific development in that area for years. Some of you probably know more than I do in the area of economy. I do not have a degree in economy; however, I have a life school graduation as someone who survived socialistic economy.
My survival of Soviet economy began before my birth. Thanks to my mom’s health and strength I didn’t die before I was born. My parents were not rich, they didn’t have money to give bribes to doctors and nurses for special attention and even if they had they wouldn’t practice bribery due to their faith in God and belief that bribery is a sin. With all loud claims that Soviet government takes care of simple working people, the system didn’t take care even of itself. The Soviet economy could launch a man into space, but does not provide the population with boots. My dad had all necessary tools and skill to repair shoes. Our mom knew how to alter shirts and pants. Both, clothes and shoes were passed from older kids to younger with many fixes on the way, until it wasn’t repairable anymore. Glorious Soviet healthcare could not even provide women giving births with clean sheets for hospital beds, which along with other things they had to take from home After I was born, never in my life did I wear diapers! Can you imagine family with 9 kids surviving without diapers? We even didn’t know something like that existed, soviet parent experiences even shortage of reusable wraps for infants. Let’s talk a little bit about food. In one of my previous podcasts I told the story Golden Calf, how right in the city we raised a calf for food. Each one of us, kids, spent a lot of time digging the soil for food production. I can’t imagine for us surviving socialistic economy without growing our own food. That’s why I’m such an advocate for having self-sufficient homestead and being less dependent or even completely independent from government controlled economy that will soon suck in even more. Mysterious system of pricing, in which officially price for meat was low, but the meat was not on the shelves for years. This was done under the name of protecting the interests of the people (well, not as a goal!) and in the fear of people’s uprising. And it led to products being bought cheap by produce mafia who then sold it to us, but on the speculative price. In the midst of such deficit economy and unfair pay people used their employment for extra income. Someone people who worked on meat processing would wrap themselves with sausages and take it out hidden under warm coats. Especially good time for that was winter. Mostly security was paid to keep their eyes from wondering how it happened that someone who came in the morning skinny, was leaving at night as fat, barely able to walk under the heaviness of the load. Other things people managed to take from their workplaces were candies, raw chocolate, sugar, butter. People of such professions as turners, welders, electricians, plumbers would use their work time and state-owned equipment to make work for their personal clients, making nice amounts of untaxable cash. Of course Christians wouldn’t do anything like that, declining to grab the pieces of collapsing economy. But thanks to many skills they had and to modest living they were able to survive. Unfortunately, not all and not always! In the past I already shared with you stories about GULAG and Golodomor – Stalin’s man-made famine, that killed millions of people, mostly in Ukraine. In exchange for food, taken from people, Stalin got from the West heavy industrial equipment. Both Golodomor and GULAG showed well good intentions of Soviet Socialism. First, famine, was also used to break the spirit of Ukrainian people, to eliminate any attempts of Ukraine’s separation from USSR. Second, GULAG, provided cheap labor force, that was easily replaced due to high mortality rate. Everything in the name of the Plan, in the name of better, brighter future! Against the backdrop of the Great Depression implementation of the first five year plans looked like impressive successes. American communists traveled to Soviet Union to see the wonder of socialism and then to spread saliva all over America to prove how good socialism is. Of course, they didn’t see Golodomor, they didn’t know about GULAG! No, NO! Everything was pink. And it looks like even some American Presidents believed, because some of them cooperated with the Tyrant. Later, when Soviet oil was discovered, it gave soviets some money to patch failing economy. But, it couldn’t last forever. Listen, before I finish let me tell you this: I thank Reagan for what he did as his part, but it’s not true when I hear some Americans saying that Ronald Reagan destroyed Soviet Union, because it already was on long way of self-destruction. Of course, from spiritual perspective, rejection of God’s leadership over the nation inevitably leads to corruption and collapse. May God grant you, my listeners, sound mind and common sense to prevent that same thing from taking over America. But, if no matter what, you’ll stand face to face with socialistic economy monster, may God be there with you, helping you to use your skills and wisdom to survive.
