I was wondering if socialists nations could exist without a free market capitalist example to emulate (finding greener pastures)? It seems to me that so many of the decisions made by socialist nations, mostly economic decisions, are done so by following examples set by the US and other free market systems. I am inclined to say that we, the US, have mostly socialist tendencies now. How long before the fish herders over graze their economic pastures without a natural system to emulate?
Wasn't that what happened to the Soviet Union? It slowly adopted free market, less centralized policies. Not the Soviet Union as a whole. but individual countries or cities and their leaders.
No. This is the calculation problem.
Nikita Krushev has the answer: "Even if the whole world were to become Socialist Switzerland will have to remain Capitalist to tell us the price of everything". Yes, it did appear that Krushev, Communist Party Secretary of Ukraine first and then of the whole Soviet Union, understood Socialism has some fundamental calculation issues. Which made him a whole lot smarter than many university professors teaching in Paris, Milan and Berkeley back at the time.
The version I heard/read of this was that it was Gorbachev's secretary, and New Zealand.. I know I had the book saved, but I upgraded computers and forgot to copy the file.