Memes

The Soviets had all of these for the highest positions, just like everywhere else. The only thing different is that they made the pay difference limitation explicit and lower.

It's completely absurd to argue that inequality in USSR was in any way comparable to that in US. People like Musk or Bezos simply didn't exist.

No. I think higher in the thread you mentioned how Brezhnev came from a family of metalworkers. When he became General Secretary, it wasn’t because he was the best metalworker at the foundry.

That's a nonsensical argument. USSR wasn't some guild based society where children simply learned the craft of their parents. Everyone had access to the same kind of education and same opportunity. A son of a metalworker would have roughly the same opportunity as the son of the chairman of the Politburo. That's what allowed people born in far flung regions of USSR to rise to positions of power.

Like elsewhere, there is a social game. And people who play it well rise high, those who play it perfectly rise higher still.

That's a factually incorrect statement. Success in US can literally be determined by your zip code. Those born rich have far more opportunity available to them, and thus are far more likely to rise to positions of power.