> From: Reggie Bautista [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>
> >From: "K.Feete" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Hmmm, well, the USSR seemed to collapse all on its own,
> frankly. I don't
> >seem to recall us having much to do with it. And, from my
> history lessons
> >at least, I don't remember America taking any sort of real *action*
> >during the Cold War. There was Korea (disaster), Vietnam (*gigantic*
> >disaster), the Cuban missile crisis, a lot of posturing, a
> lot of good
> >sci-fi about the possibility of nuclear war, and McCarthy.
> Whether or not
> >this had anything to do with the fall of the USSR is... debatable.
> >
> >Kat Feete
>
> The action that the U.S. took was the arms race. We spent a
> lot of money,
> making them spend a lot of money to keep up, which made us
> spend even more,
> which made them spend even more...
>
> The arms race/cold war was basically an economic war. We
> could afford to
> spend more than they could, and they didn't have any money
> left over to keep
> their infrastructure in decent shape.
>
I'm not saying I disagree with this but...
I've always wondered if and how much this was planned? Or was it more of an
accident? Did some President or advisor say stand up and say "I know how to
stop the big 'Evil Empire'! Let's spend them into the ground." It has
always sounded to me more like when someone says with slight embarrassment
"Uh, yeah, that's what we meant to do all along. Honest. Why else would we
have been spending all these trillions, right?"
- John
