Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned
Financial Times ^ | August 14, 2007 | By Jeremy Grant

Posted on 08/13/2007 5:35:11 PM PDT by Sir_Humphrey

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-76 last
To: Sir_Humphrey

I thought this was going to be about the moral decline of America. Instead it’s a bunch of Liberal claptrap.


61 posted on 08/13/2007 8:18:41 PM PDT by balch3
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sir_Humphrey

I think he is right, but about a hundred years to soon.

We are nearing the end of the democratic phase of our history (the Republic died long ago), and are waiting to see what happens next. The Roman Empire lasted hundreds of years in worse situations.


62 posted on 08/14/2007 4:23:25 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 353FMG
One of the many differences between us and Rome is that the latter did not have a death wish while we do. It is called globalization, multiculturalism, PC and the desire for diversity and not unity.

But the Romans died a similar way in the West. The legions were all foreign barbarians, who had little conception of what Rome was. Birth rates plummeted as morals did also (Constantine slowed things somewhat), and in the end, the Roman people were more concerned about where the next free meal was than with who was running the state. When the final fall happened, it was welcomed by most of the former Romans.

63 posted on 08/14/2007 4:26:32 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: RobbyS
What is it with people and Rome?

It's both a great lesson in representative politics (as representative as you can get at the time), as well as a great lesson in everything that can go wrong with a government. The Roman Empire (and Greek politics) contributed a lot to our own political system (even if it was "don't do this, the Romans did and it screwed them up).

I'd throw out as well - instead of bread and circuses, think welfare and entitlement programs. The Roman government tried to buy off the people, make them think everything was okay or keep them happy, just as we do now with various entitlement programs, when just as the Roman government could not afford it, we cannot afford it either.
64 posted on 08/14/2007 6:35:22 AM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: facedown
Nothing more than standard socialist talking points.

He forgot the part about starving the teachers.

65 posted on 08/14/2007 6:47:14 AM PDT by HIDEK6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Sir_Humphrey
The US government is on a “burning platform” of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned.

Yes, we all know that Rome fell because it wasn't spending enough government money on healthcare.

These people are so incredibly moronic I'm amazed they know how to breathe.
66 posted on 08/14/2007 6:53:52 AM PDT by newguy357
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PajamaTruthMafia

He stated many truths in that article, state something you don’t agree with. IMHO, the moral depravity is the nail in the coffin, go against God and you’re finished.


67 posted on 08/14/2007 6:58:55 AM PDT by stevio ((NRA))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: All

I agree with him in that the level of governmental corruption is nearing Nero’s levels. Internal moral decay , AND THE SELLING OF ROMAN CITIZENSHIP -watering down of the Romans culture by foreigners ( sound familiar ) all lead to Rome’s decline. I see some parallels while not agreeing with parts of his article.


68 posted on 08/14/2007 7:03:44 AM PDT by sonic109
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: kabar

The challenge will be to retain our national identity,
Something the Romans had difficulty doing.


69 posted on 08/14/2007 7:06:20 AM PDT by sonic109
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: stevio

It’s hard to be specific because he’s speaking in broad generalities but the idea that the USA is about to go the way of the Roman Empire is nothing but hysterical hyperbole to influence the upcoming elections.

Imagine he’s been in the position all the years and he’s just now had an epiphany urgent enough to “turn up the volume?”

Give me a break.


70 posted on 08/14/2007 7:20:06 AM PDT by PajamaTruthMafia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: bluetone006
I am so sick of boomers having a huge party and sticking us with all the bills.

I cannot disagree with this sentiment. Although I am a Boomer myself (yes, I admit it), my own generation has, by and large, acted selfishly here, as if the "huge party" you speak of were without any future cost.

Of course, anyone who knows me would not be likely to confuse me with one of those "country club Republicans."

But my comments were directed elsewhere, toward the politically correct, almost fetishistic love of multiculturalism that is now fashionable.

As to the author's central thesis--that the US resembles ancient Rome because of "declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government"--I would say that the "over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands" is the weakest part, as it seems to imply that our incursion into Iraq (and perhaps Afghanistan also) was a mistake. I disagree. But the rest of his equation strikes me as sound.

Whether or not this adds up to our being in a similar position to Rome, near the end of its glory days, is another question.

71 posted on 08/14/2007 7:42:54 AM PDT by AmericanExceptionalist (Democrats believe in discussing the full spectrum of ideas, all the way from far left to center-left)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: newguy357
Yes, we all know that Rome fell because it wasn't spending enough government money on healthcare. These people are so incredibly moronic I'm amazed they know how to breathe.

Meidicare is underfunded based on the structure of the program, i.e., unfunded liabilities based on promised benefits. That is the point.

Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance

Medicare and Social Security: Big Entitlement Costs on the Horizon

"Social Security and Medicare have promised $37 trillion more in benefits to senior and disabled workers than the programs will be able to pay, according to a new report. The 2006 annual report of the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds concludes that both programs will require progressively larger transfers from general revenues to maintain the projected levels of spending."

"Medicare and Social Security will require growing amounts of federal income tax revenue. Today, 6.9 percent of federal income taxes go towards the two programs. Dr. Thomas Saving of Texas A & M University, a public trustee of the Medicare and Social Security trust funds, estimates that, in 2020, 26.6 percent of all federal income taxes will go to paying for Medicare and Social Security. By 2030, that number will increase to 49.7 percent."

"Of the two programs, Medicare presents the greatest challenge to Congress and taxpayers. The Hospital Insurance Trust fund is projected to be exhausted by 2018, a change from the previous date of 2020, and the cost of the Supplemental Medical Insurance program (SMI) is increasing faster than Medicare trustees had projected. According to the trustees, Medicare’s long-term debt, based on a 75-year actuarial projection, is now estimated to be $32.4 trillion. Of that amount $8 trillion is directly attributable to the Medicare prescription drug entitlement. The trustees did revise the size of the Medicare portion of the debt, which was estimated at $8.7 trillion in 2005, because the drug costs have risen more slowly than projected, as have the rates of enrollment. What is unknown is the extent to which employers, who now get federal subsidies for maintaining approved drug coverage for retirees, will continue to maintain that coverage or drop it with the passage of time. Accordingly, the cost of Medicare’s drug entitlement remains a huge uncertainty."

72 posted on 08/14/2007 7:45:38 AM PDT by kabar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: af_vet_rr

Representative Government? The last century of the Roman Republic was an example of oligarchy. The Senatorial class had taken the lion’s share of the wealth gained by Roman conquests and came to own all of Italy. Slaves displaced the people from the land and forced them into town. Veterans were bought off by land grants on the frontier, far from Rome. In Caesar, the Oligarchs reaped what they had sown. All Augustus did was to strip them of a power they had misused in the first place. All in all, the emperors, except for the break down under Nero, gave Romans two hundred years of government that were much better than they what theyt had during the last few generations of the Republic.


73 posted on 08/14/2007 10:13:01 AM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: RobbyS
As I said, at times it was about as representative as you could get, given the era (that's not saying much, I know - Senators who cared about their districts were few and far between). I would point out that, just as in those times, even today, if you want access to the politicians, you better have some money for them (or their campaign as it is) - this holds true for Republicans and Democrats, and God forbid if you think you can run for a major office with just good ideas and good intentions - the people with the money or who can attract the money will stomp you into the ground.

Let me ask you this - you mentioned the slaves displacing people from the land, what do you think of comparing it to the illegal immigrants of today - if George Bush gets his way (and something tells me he will - he's been very arrogant about wanting his "guest workers" legalized, and when he acts that way, he usually finds a way to make it happen), millions and millions of illegal immigrants will become American citizens, and they will legally be able to go after the lower class jobs that many avoid these days for fear of being caught (it's a lot easier doing day labor where you're paid in cash than working for companies that might create a paper trail you'd rather avoid). It could cause a huge disruption, to say the least, as well as seeing a situation where we end up having even more people go to the government for handouts.
74 posted on 08/14/2007 12:58:56 PM PDT by af_vet_rr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: af_vet_rr

The Roman Republic was a lot like Mexico today : a rich country owned and operated by a few hundred families. The slaves were more like organic machines who were bought into Italy to work the big plantations and drive the free farmers off the land. As far as the imigrants are concerned, I do share your concern, but they are more like the Barbarians who during the 2nd Century began to infiltrate into the Empire. Marcus Aurelius spent much of his reign trying to keep them out. During the next hundred years , the pressure became greater and greater. Diocletians and then Constantine managed to hold back the tide, but finally, in the 5th Century, the dykes in the West collapsed.


75 posted on 08/14/2007 1:15:20 PM PDT by RobbyS ( CHIRHO)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

Ancient Topic!

Just adding to the GGG catalog, not pinging.

76 posted on 05/08/2016 4:56:36 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-76 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson