Tag: Ancient Rome

Guest Post by Jeff Thomas

• Over its last one hundred years, the State steadily devalued the currency by 98%

• The high cost of government—particularly, growing entitlements and perpetual warfare, coupled with a diminished number of taxpayers, led the government to massive debt, to the point that it could not be repaid.

• Those citizens that were productive began to exit the country, finding new homes in countries that were not quite so sophisticated but offered better prospects for the future.

• The decline in the value of the currency resulted in ever-increasing prices of goods, so much so that the purchase of them became a hardship to the people. By governmental edict, wage and price controls were established, forcing rises in wages whilst capping the amount that vendors could charge for goods.

• The result was that vendors offered fewer and fewer goods for sale, as the profit had been eliminated.

If the reader is a citizen of the EU or US, the above history may seem quite familiar, with the one exception that strict wage and price controls have not (yet) been implemented. Still, the history is accurate; it is the history of Rome.

Continue reading “When in Rome”

Guest Post by Jeff Thomas

Throughout history, there have been periods when people who were otherwise quite settled in their towns and villages, pulled up stakes and headed elsewhere.

During the decline of Rome, many of those who had been the net producers chose to move north and live amongst the barbarians, as life amongst them, although less sophisticated than in Rome, offered more freedom and opportunity. Certainly, it must have been a difficult decision, but for many, it proved to be for the best.

Continue reading “There Goes the Neighbourhood”