Homer Simpson writes:
Good roads, rail networks and even passenger jet services were created. But why was the average Soviet citizen too poor to afford a car & an airplane ticket.
They were not too poor to afford an airline ticket. The airline flew 50-60 million flights/year in the USSR. That right there means that airline tickets were easily affordable for most Soviets.
Now that my transmission just died, I am starting to think that your average American can’t afford a car either! It will cost me $2,000-2,500 to fix that car. I do not have it. It will cost me $1,400+ to buy another car, which won’t even be a good one. I don’t have it.
How many Americans have $2,500 lying around? How many Americans have $1,400 lying around? Hardly anyone I know. Most people I know live paycheck to paycheck.
I think it is interesting that most Soviet citizens were able to travel all around the USSR during their lifetimes. They were also able to travel all over the East Bloc. How many Americans can afford to travel all over the US? How many Americans can afford to travel to neighboring countries. Most people I know cannot afford to do either. I have not been able to afford to travel outside of California since 1988! So really I think travel opportunities for average working class people were better in the USSR than in the US.
