Well, last week I saw an article in the newspaper about the U.S.S.R. (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, its official name), in which it was mentioned Ukraine (which is the size of Texas or France) has 46 million people.
I did a double-take, because when I had been wandering around the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all during the early and mid-1990s, Ukraine had a population of 52 million people.
It was obvious then that Ukraine was withering, but that is an enormous loss.
So.....with fewer people, Ukrainians should be flourishing and prospering, right?
Wrong. It's worse there now, than it had been when I had first seen it.