I have a hard time believing under any economic system Americans would be content with bread when their neighbor is eating steak. That is the whole basis of the consumerist culture that powers a good portion of American capitalism.<p>And the Soviets are a terrible example. Centrally planned economies of course destroy all individual incentives to accel or improve.<p>But if you seriously think the only way economic systems like the US&#x27;s can function is by threatening starvation and exposure to incentivize working, then what is the point of progress to begin with if we are stuck in the same vicious cycle regardless? All progress is effectively meaningless if at the end of the day you are still laboring to not die of hunger.<p>And the Soviet&#x27;s didn&#x27;t have bread to begin with. Their people starved not because of &quot;free&quot; stuff, but because there was &quot;no&quot; stuff so long as the central planning existed and was as inept as it was (that, or intentionally restricted).