I wonder if slower pace in the development in US isn't to a certain extent due to amount of population and population density. Though I have no details for such countries as China or Russia, so I can't be sure if there's any correlation.

That's a really interesting piece of American history. I'm not a native American but this video provides a nice insight into times when communism was used as a weapon of manipulating the society. Glad you dug it up somewhere!

I always knew that such things can happen in governments of big countries but to actually lose data critical to financial safety of millions of citizens is something I've never dreamed of.