Socialists tell me that the USSR (and even Cuba) failed not because Communism/Socialism failed but because the people did not implement Communism in its true form.
Objectivists say that Capitalism did not fail, but America failed to implement it completely.
A “mixed economy” is the continuum between Communism/Socialism at one end and Capitalism at the other end. Cleary, the old USSR is closer to socialism and America is closer to being capitalistic. Many other countries can be place at various points in this continuum.
As a rule, countries closer to the “socialism” end have done far worse of than countries near the capitalism end.
[PS: Do not want to start a completely different topic, but Sweden is often used as a counter-example by socialists.]
Socialists tell me that the USSR (and even Cuba) failed not because Communism/Socialism failed but because the people did not implement Communism in its true form.
Objectivists say that Capitalism did not fail, but America failed to implement it completely.
I think it is fair to say that it is virtually un-doable. I also think it is fair to say that the Soviet Union implemented it about as well as it could ever be done.
Read ‘Socialism’ by Ludwig Von Mises and ‘The Government against the Economy’ By George Reisman to discover why Socialism, in it’s many forms including Communism, is totalitarian and must fail every time.