They “won” by going bankrupt first. The reward was the collapse of their system of government. Had the US “won” that race and gone bankrupt instead, we might have seen the nations of New York, California, Texas, etc break off from the US.
It was a little more complex than that. The USSR didn’t have an industrial base that it needed, so it took from its satellite countries. Like a house of cards, when economic pressure was put on the top, it was felt on those countries below and they began to revolt. For the US, which had an industrial base, the 30B dollars spent on SDI fantasy was absorbed through debt. There was really no chance of the US going bankrupt.
They “won” by going bankrupt first. The reward was the collapse of their system of government. Had the US “won” that race and gone bankrupt instead, we might have seen the nations of New York, California, Texas, etc break off from the US.
It was a little more complex than that. The USSR didn’t have an industrial base that it needed, so it took from its satellite countries. Like a house of cards, when economic pressure was put on the top, it was felt on those countries below and they began to revolt. For the US, which had an industrial base, the 30B dollars spent on SDI fantasy was absorbed through debt. There was really no chance of the US going bankrupt.