In 1975, Hedrick Smith released The Russians. A fascinating look inside the Soviet Union by the then Moscow bureau chief for the New York Times, the study of the former Soviet Union was a revelation for many who'd long excused a system that ran counter to human nature. Life under communism was brutal, and defined by relentless scarcity.
While a falling dollar stateside had around the time of publication brought about “oil shocks” that historians misunderstand to this day as being a consequence of OPEC, Americans suffered the dollar error doubly through interminable lines for gasoline that were the predictable result of price controls foisted on them by a clueless political class. This rates mention because, as Smith observed about the Soviet Union, its people endured lines for everything.
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