similarly, more intensive exploitation of raw materials ran the danger of increasing inefficiencies in dealing with, say, oil stocks, while extractive costs rose swiftly as soon as mining was extended into the permafrost region. More capital might be poured into industry and technology, but only at the cost of diverting resources either from defense --which has remained the number -one priority of the USSR, despite all the changes of leadership ---or from consumer goods ---slighting of which was seen to be highly unpopular (especially in eastern Europe) at a time when improved communications were making the West's relative prosperity even more obvious.