What caused economic stagnation in the USSR?

Please explain. Japan was one of the most hierarchical feudal states for centuries and cut itself off from the entire rest of the world until the Meji Restoration where they became capitalist. Capitalism needs to expand, states don't necessarily do.

What is a good book on why the USSR fell?

Just because Japan didn't interact with the rest of the world doesn't mean it didn't expand. It invaded Korea almost immediately after the Sengoku Jidai in which all the clans fought between themselves to gain control of the whole of Japan.

Just reading wikipedia about it, it sounds like Gorbachev was just constantly ceding power, and I can't really discern why? Even at the very end, where it talks about the August coup, it seems to make it out as though it was a total failure. Gorbachev just stood on a tank and gave a speech, and public opinion was apparently against the coup. But then right after this section, the next one titled "the fall" just starts off with Gorbachev dissolving the communist party. Why would he do that?

I guess that's a polite way of saying "was essentially ostracized for being cunts to all their neighbors until Americans brought them guns powerful enough to make real countries finally pay attention to them."

None of this is relevant to his remark as these events predates the sakoku period of isolation, which lasted for over 200 years.

FSU=Former Soviet Union

They pretend we live in workers paradise, we pretend to work in workers paradise.

You're right, they should've invested more in civil engineering. The USSR did have god-tier public transport though.

And Andropov was only decent in so far as he wanted to give more power to the soviets. I don't know when anti-revisionist tankies will realize "revisionism" is inevitable when you have too much party power and too little soviet power.

wikipedia isn't a book dumbass

Socialism Betrayed

My grandfather was Taxi Driver. That is how he meet my grandmother :)

nakedkeynesianism.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-soviet-economy-lessons-for.html
I'm going to post this one because I kind of vaguely sort of think it probably says good things about the things I like.

Revisionism

Love this pic

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppressed_research_in_the_Soviet_Union

They didnt go full steam ahead developing the productive forces the way they should have because of ideological and cultural rigidity.

Instead of pouring so much money into nuclear weapons (seriously someone defend this please) they should have invested more in computers in order to improve central planning. This could have led to accelerating returns.

Instead SU was hampered by its rigid beauracracy. This goes all the way back to the early 20s, banning of factions, Stalin's rise, etc. I don't have all the answers but I'm sure Kaminev and Zinoviev would rethink teaming up with Stalin to take down Trotsky if they had the chance. Not that I think Trotsky's a saint- I think it came down to a small margin for error in tense circumstances and people who made bad choices or didn't know quite the right thing to do.

Muh Bordiga but what if all world communists had run that shit?

Also if the kulaks hadnt been such assholes kek

Did he agree to waive the fare if your grandmother made a private video with him?

If they had that, that means some war games showed they need that many to defend themselves. No military industrial complex there to push products for profit.

There was no stagnation. Capitalism started printing fiat money with debt en masse, so it "worked better", just like saying that using a credit card makes you richer. And now that debt death spiral will be its demise.

The OP asked why growth stagnated, not why it stopped.

The KGP was filled with closet liberals and was feeding Gorbachov false information constantly, like how the situation in the border republics was exaggerated and how the Warsaw Pact countries wanted to remain communist.

Any sources on that?

uhhh sweetie