I still don't see what this has to do with the question the OP posed.
You were implying that the Russians could not change and could not do better in the 90s - since politics, culture and historical factors are all fluid over time, I was wondering what was left.
Certainly part of what is going on. Also, industrial production is becoming more evenly spread across the world.
Right. But again, actual dictating of prices is incidental to the point I am making - that the Union was moving resources around the SSRs in a way that benefited everyone in the short/medium term.
Coordination is a good thing in economies and I reckon the SSRs of the FSU would have transitioned better if they'd coordinated better. So, for example, if Russian tourists had still been able to conveniently access Georgian tourist resorts and Georgian wine had been able to conveniently access the Russian market the Georgian economy wouldn't have imploded as badly. If there'd been a loose federation and "federal restructuring funds" of some kind, then perhaps more Kazakh industry would have survived the transition. If Russia had been able to freely trade with the other SSRs (or former SSRs), then it wouldn't have needed to spend so much money building new infrastructure and facilities in Russia to meet demands that could have been met by old Soviet infrastructure/facilities.
And yet Americans seem to find a way to argue about this... It is frightening to me how many people I meet who want their state to become an independent country. But yes, you are right that Americans have more family-feeling for each other than Germans do for Greeks. This wasn't true when the US first made itself a fiscal and monetary union though.
fasquardon
Raw materials are both less valuable and more volatile in price. Russia is exporting crude oil, not plastic.
Better than they did? Possibly Better by much? Probably not. Revolutionary changes have short term negative effects that can't be overcome. Russians aren't subhuman but they are also not superhuman.
Which didn't spread to Russia. Does anyone outside of Russia and Third World backwaters buy a lot of Russian goods?
Dictating of prices is very important. It usually means the person being dictated to is getting screwed over which causes resentment. Even if they are not they strongly suspect it. It causes market distortions resulting in shoddy goods, shortages and a thriving black market which are all thing the USSR was well known for.
Possibly, but it probably near impossible to prevent. The Balts and the Georgians among others want to have nothing to do with the Russians.
For all that there was no significant secession movement after the ACW and no significant one now. Americans share the same history, the same language, the same culture, and the same law. The same can not be said of Germany and Greece or France and Spain or Italy and the Netherlands.