Stop with this bullshit.
USSR showed growth, it never showed actual great economy.
The growth was only impressive so long as it was in a process of getting shit together. Educating population, building basic road infrastructure, etc. when you are in a shithole, you can show impressive growth for a while while getting to a basic level. They never figured out how to actually prosper.
"Educating [the] population" and "building basic infrastructure" is something we're doing a pretty shoddy job of in the U.S., so the attempt to minimize the significance is pretty disingenuous.
What's your criteria for a nation to "actually prosper?" Hyperdriven, rampant, and mind-numbing consumerism? More millionaires? At the expense of the laborers of which colonized nation?
Education and basic road infrastructure are severely behind in the US. I think a lot of people look at billionaires flying to space and believe that means the US population is advanced. Sadly, it isn't true. We are lagging in important areas.
