"For me, to say that you don't produce any consumer goods worth having is just to say that you don't produce anything worth having. And then, with this understanding, which I still somehow believe to be correct, it shocks me somehow to hear someone going on about weapons exports and then to ask what is so important about consumer goods. Now that is so very SU, isn't it?"
When I came from Romania to the West (1963) here are the differences I noticed: in the west there were a lot more cars and tv's, also a lot of advertisements. People had a lot more clothes, but they also had to renew them more often (because of fashion changes). In terms of arts/education Paris was OK; but the U.S. was unbelievably backward. In 1975, I went back to Bucharest and saw a play based on Diderot's "Rameau's Nephew" (not an easy play) that is simply the best play/production I've ever seen. Other than some of the stuff that Peter Sellars does, I haven't seen anything in the U.S. that comes even close.
The food was good in France but awful in the U.S. There were a lot more cleaning products in the West. Probably today, there are also a lot more computers here and consumer electronics.
When we lived in Romania, my parents lived in fear of the secret police; when we came to the U.S., they lived in fear of not finding work.
Looking forward to the day when we can create a socialist society without a secret police. I couldn't care less about consumer goods.
Joanna