Ancient Rome vs. America: The Coming Economic Collapse

     The current state of government spending is leaving America on a direct path to destruction.  This type of national decline has happened many times in the history of our world, and yet we have not learned our lesson.  This paper will take a look at ancient Rome and show how we are following their same economic logic, and if we don't change course we will also cease to exist as a nation.

     The creation of money helped exponentially expand the world economy, but it has also led to many failed civilizations.  When greed and power overtake a government, it's not long before corruption, over taxation, and the destruction of the currency follows.  Rome was a nation such as this.  Jack Weatherford states the problem of the growing army and lack of finances when he wrote the following, "Despite its declining ability to produce revenue for the state, the army continued to grow in size.  Even during the third and fourth centuries, when the geographical size of the empire declined, the number of soldiers more than doubled from approximately 300,000 to 650,000."  When the government should have contracted its spending it increased it at even faster rates.  In fact, the government in Rome was growing at a rate inversely proportionate to its declining empire.

     The city of Rome itself had a population of approximately 1 million citizens, but there were not enough jobs to keep them all employed.  The Caesar's decided the best way to keep the mob under his control was to provide them with 'bread and circuses'.  Thus, Rome became the first welfare state on the planet.  Weatherford elaborates on this in the following, "When Julius Caesar first came to power nearly one-third of the people, approximately 320,000, received free wheat on the public dole, but through skillful maneuvering, he reduced the amount by more than half, to a still substantial 150,000.  After Caesar's assassination, the numbers started to climb once again, and the benefits increased."  The taxes that were imposed on the farmers and wealthy people of the country became an unbearable burden, and the Caesar's had to come up with another option.

     Coins in early Rome were made out of pure silver and gold and had a standard weight and size.  The infamous Nero was the first to exploit the purity of the money in circulation.  Before the devaluation of coins, a pound of silver made 84 denarii, but after Nero's decision, the same pound created 96.  So the actual amount of silver and gold in the economy didn't change, but the amount of coins in circulation greatly increased.  The unknown result of this action was hyperinflation, which caused the price of goods to skyrocket.  Soon this way of raising revenue began to fail and the government was forced to look for other ways to sustain its power.  Weatherford points to the socialist policies used when he wrote, "One simple method arose from the ancient practice of confiscating the property of anyone judged to be a traitor of Rome or, more accurately, to the emperor.  Soon the emperors used the accusation of treason as a ploy to confiscate the property of anyone rich enough to attract the attention of the emperor but not close enough to him to maintain his favor."  By the end of the 5th century the debasing of the coins led to the outright collapse of the Western Roman Empire.  This is the path America is currently on.

     America is widely considered to be the most powerful nation ever, but that distinction is coming to an end.  Our country's currency was once based 100% on the value of gold, which meant a citizen was able to take a 20 dollar bank note and trade it in for 20 dollars worth of gold.  It was when the government greatly expanded its power and size during the 1930's Presidential reign of the democrat F.D.R. that we embarked on the same path as the ancient Romans.  The President decided to take our country partially off the gold standard and our currency began to decline in value.  In the 1970's our government expanded its welfare position as it introduced food stamps and welfare, and this necessitated the need to take our currency completely of the gold standard.  The result of this has been felt and will continue to get worse as our current President continues to devalue our dollar.

     When our government overspends it increases our money supply, but it devalues our currency.  So every time our government has a deficit of a trillion dollars or more, other countries consider our dollar to be worth less.  The result of this is that middle eastern countries begin to demand more dollars for their oil, and China demands more for its goods, but instead of cutting the expense of our government we have decided to take the path of the Roman's.  Barak Obama has not only decided to keep spending where it is, but increase it to even higher levels by promising more 'bread and circuses' in the form of universal healthcare.  And just as the emperors of Rome did, the government is deciding to raise taxes on the wealthiest to keep the mob under its control.  The results are already becoming all to obvious as you see our wealthiest citizens renouncing their citizenship due to the higher taxes.  Eventually, there will be no more money to take from the wealthy and the government will begin to confiscate and slowly takeover the whole economy.  By this time we will be living under a tyrannical government, which in the end will fail as all other's have.  

     There is a small window of time in which we as a nation may be able to avoid this disastrous outcome.  We need to speak up loud and boldly and bring the truth to the public in a way that they can understand it.  We need to vote true ECONOMIC conservatives into office and do away with the two party system that is satisfied with the status quo.  If we don't take drastic measures soon the clock will run out on our free society and everything we value will be gone.