At that time, the Soviet economy was doing okay but it was slower than its competitors' economies in the West. Also, the cost of maintaining the Soviet Union, as a superpower was huge. These costs included running a large military; running the KGB networks; and giving money to countries close to the Soviet Union. At the same time, the Soviet Union’s technological development had fallen behind. For example: many of its factories used out-of-date technologies and it had fallen behind in the use of information technology.