[gutzmank]

It’s common to argue that nothing anyone outside the USSR did hastened the end of the USSR, let alone caused it. That end was inevitable, we’re told. One could of course make the same argument concerning Diocletian’s economic policy — which must explain why the Byzantine Empire only endured until 1453.

In short, virtually every society that ever existed had governmental economic policies that were “doomed to fail.” This line of argument strikes me as jejune. I think that in many cases it comes from this direction: nothing that government ever did was worth doing; Reagan’s arms buildup was a government initiative; therefore, Reagan’s arms buildup wasn’t worth doing.