Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called for a perestroika, or top-to-bottom reform, in the West, arguing that its current economic model was "unsustainable" and needed replacement. Commenting on the current global economic crisis, the ex-Soviet president who presided over the collapse of his country, said that it was now clear to him "that the new Western model was an illusion that benefited chiefly the very rich."
"The model that emerged during the final decades of the 20th century has turned out to be unsustainable," Gorbachev wrote in an op-ed piece in The Washington Post. "It was based on a drive for super-profits and hyper-consumption for a few, on unrestrained exploitation of resources and on social and environmental irresponsibility."
Gorbachev predicted "perhaps even greater upheaval down the road" and insisted that the current economic and social model existing in the West needed replacing. "I have no ready-made prescriptions," Gorbachev said. "But I am convinced that a new model will emerge, one that will emphasize public needs and public goods, such as a cleaner environment, well-functioning infrastructure and public transportation, sound education and health systems and affordable housing."
From the mid-1980s, Gorbachev was the initiator of a series of fundamental reforms in the Soviet Union.
Notice the graphic Rush Limbaugh’s staff put together. Very odd. We get the part about he thinks Obama is a Communist. But what’s the deal with Lincoln? Was Lincoln a bad guy for ending slavery, ergo freeing African Americans, ergo leading to a black President, ergo leading to Communism? It’s even more confusing because the graphic his staff was playing off of had Gorbachev standing with Lenin. Lenin was a hard-liner who probably turned over in his grave when Gorbochev came along.Rush’s staffers have it all mucked up. I guess when your on a tight schedule of hate-mongering for the masses, you’re not particularly careful with your metaphors. And, by the way, what Gorbochev did in Russia and said in this article are some pretty good things. And, by the way, perestroika [or top-to-bottom reform] is exactly what we need in the west. "… that the new Western model was an illusion that benefited chiefly the very rich. The model that emerged during the final decades of the 20th century has turned out to be unsustainable. It was based on a drive for super-profits and hyper-consumption for a few, on unrestrained exploitation of resources and on social and environmental irresponsibility." Good call Mikhail.
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