The costs for shipping big, manufactured goods from China to the United States -- or high volumes of goods from Japan or Korea or Malaysia, or Indonesia to the United States is a lot cheaper now than it was.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Talks with Virginia Families on the Economy | The White House

If the Soviet central authorities have not gone much beyond paying lip service to the idea of cutting back military production to increase the supply of manufactured goods for civilian purposes, they have shown a keen interest in reducing the costs of that military production.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Help With Soviet Conversion Is Risky