>From today's NYT:
> The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle... let
> American companies pick whatever technology
> they wanted.... [A] spokeswoman for Lockheed
> Martin Space Systems... said the company's
> teams seized on a Russian engine design after
> being dazzled by Russian secrets accessible after
> the end of the cold war. "We were astounded,"
> she said. "The Russians were able to develop
> systems and metals and capabilities that allowed
> them to fire engines at higher pressures,
> temperatures and efficiencies.".... "We're getting
> the crown jewels,"... an expert on the Russian
> space program at the Federation of American
> Scientists... [said:] "It makes up for 30 years of
> not doing the appropriate amount of engine
> research ourselves." The trick is that the Russians
> learned during the cold war how to excel without
> pushing technological limits -- the opposite of
> the West's approach. For instance, Moscow often
> relied on kerosene, an inexpensive fuel that can
> work at room temperature. In contrast,
> Washington pushed to perfect the use of liquid
> hydrogen. This costly, high-energy propellant
> must be refrigerated down to hundreds of degrees
> below zero, a temperature that can freeze, shatter
> or otherwise play havoc with fast-moving parts.
William J. Broad, "A Missile That Would Make Lenin Faint",
NYT Week in Review, 22Sep02, p.WK5
My question: How could the Soviets do this without free markets?
Conversely, how could The United States of America, with
free enterprise, have failed to come up with the best ideas and
the best implementations?
Marx is all wrong. Only free enterprise can do anything
right. Then why were the slaves of Soviet Imperialiusm
able to do things that today our scientists are
in awe of? If The Invisible Hand is not only onmikpotent
but all-belevolent, how could it have pointed us
off into blind alleys in the land of cost-effective
"O rings"?
Of course the Soviets did not get everything right.
But they didn't get everything wrong either.
Maybe we can learn some things from Soviet social
life as well as from Soviet Rocket Science? ("Unthinkable!")
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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