The Soviet Union was actually so wealthy, in the early 1960s, to make these bankruptcy-based conspiracies look really silly. I mean, the West perceived it as a threat largely because their economic system appeared superior for a pretty long time. It wasn't until the late '70s that the Soviets really started to sputter.
Americans themselves benefited greatly from it as our government felt it needed to do more to compete against socialism. Granted, much of that was undone/tapered off after the threat was gone, but it’s an interesting piece of history.
