Lessons from Gorbachev's Doomed U.S.S.R and America's current Path Research Paper

Lessons from Gorbachev's Doomed U.S.S.R and America's current Path - Research Paper Example The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union has been characterized by the interplay of economic, ideological and political factors that largely resulted in supper power rivalry throughout the cold war period. One of the remarkable similarities shared by the current United States and the former Soviet Union is a serious foreign debt crisis and a looming bankruptcy. Prior to its collapse Gorbachev's Doomed U.S.S.R was taking on foreign debt at unsustainable rates. A peak in the Russian oil production, as well as low world prices at the time, later sealed the fate of Soviet Union under Gorbachev. For example, his two main policies of Perestroika and glasnost significantly resulted in a political instability that eventually gave way to the dissolution of the Union (Service, 13).On the other hand, just like the former USSR, United States is also now facing similar economic problems and the current outstanding US national debt stands at over $16 trillion and is one of t he largest debts owed by a single country in the world. Even before the current economic crisis, the US grew by nearly 50% and the fact that the US debt to GDP ratio now stands at more than 100% is a serious alarm to both the policymakers and the investors. According to many analysts, the high US national debt resulted from an accumulation of federal budget deficits with the largest contributor being President Obama through his tax cuts, economic stimulus package (bailout) and increased military spending.