The Cato Institute

maybe somebody should tell obama that his ten-year forecast of health care costs and benefits isn't an original or successful idea. the soviets used "ten year" plans, too, and we all know how well it worked for them.

If only Obama had studied a little History!

Great article.

The future of the US of A, thanks to Obama and those that think like him.

With the passage of cap-and-trade and the House health care bill, we should be there soon! Thanks, Democratically-controlled Congress and all the people who voted for Obama because it made them feel better about themselves.

Great artical but it's sad that the people in USSR hasn't had a revolution yet.

Republicans and Democrats,liberals and conservatives:
The United Two Parties of United America.

I don't fully understand much and I don't pretend to,but I always find it amusing when people blame Obama,as if the american citizens really had a choice.

Btw,I deliberately left out "States".

Great article. I am in the middle of reading the Court of the Red Tsar and the Bolshevik leadership had to "break the backs" (ex. beat, imprison, shoot) of the peasantry to get them to submit to socialism and then, even then, black markets popped up. Sad stuff.

Will have to read that sounds excellent. The movie Reds was good too shows how Jack Reed was used, took him awhile to realize it.

Revolutions usually eat their own, with the clear exception being our own American Revolution, much different thatn the French Revolution and their Reign of Terror, depends on who is in charge of the revolution, Washington, Mao, Lenin, Mussolini or Hitler, different person, different outcomes.

@John--Ours was a revolution of thought, not a true revolution. The "Revoltionary War" is in fact a misnomer.It was a war of independence.

Arlene I certainly agree about the need for a revolution. After reading the article, I don't think those peeps described in the piece had the physical energy to lift an arm against the state. Those people had widespread problems with alcoholism, an indication of widespread depression because of no hope for a better existence. On the other hand; it... See More's been 27 years since the trip, the Wall is down, the Soviet Union dismantled, and perestroika widespread. I would recommend a new trip. People of the New Russia may be doing much better than anyone could imagine. I fear that America could be going down the same road toward the conditions described in the article, considering the totalitarian government's tendencies toward socialism.

LOL, Beware the Robespierres... even one of our greater founding patriots, Thomas Paine, almost lost his head during the french revolutions 'reign of terror'. Personally, I can think of a few Maximiliens that should be put to the guillotine... face-up... figuratively speaking... of course!

I have been to Russia about a dozen times since 2000. The most striking thing in Moscow these days is the proximity of glitz and glamour with pretty abject poverty. The no bars hold privatization effort there left a lot of people as losers and a very small group of massive winners. There is no doubt that life in Moscow and St Petersburg, Norilsk ... See Moreand other centers has improved from the raw material boom of the past few years. Go further east or in the rural areas that are some distance away from these urban centers and life is pretty grim. Russia in my view has been slowly returning to its original structure of the czarist period where a tiny elite wielded immense power, supported by a small middle class in the more prosperous town, all propped up on a sea of poor peasantry (that would be mostly industrial workers these days). Beyond its regular elections, that country still misses basic democratic tenets, such as equal opportunity, and independent legal structure, and transparent rule of law. Today the belief that with enough money everything can be purchased has rendered Russians cynical. Putin has been unpredictable and has scared some of the oligarchs, yet, it is not so much a systematic crack down than a changing of the guard, towards his cronies mainly from the former KGB. So I am sure in a survey asking the Russians whether they live better now or back in the USSR, you would have mixed responses depending on where and whom you are asking. In many ways similar to here, except in reverse. While the American Mid West and rural areas in general are largely pro market and conservative, US urban centers tend to be more liberal and socially oriented. In contrast while the big urban centers of Russia are the promoters of free enterprise, much of rural Russia remembers the Kholkhoze, and large industrial kombinats, and the relatively sheltered lives these provided for the large number of employees working there.