[muawiyah]

Actually Bill, it was the success of the Roman Army and Roman Law in making Rome incredibly rich in terms of loot being brought back from foreign lands as well as slaves swamping the Empire's core area ~ that left EVERYONE unemployed!

Rather than give up loot and slaves, the Roman elites undertook a massive social welfare system for Roman citizens.

The poor would have been happier to have had things as they had been before the slaves and the loot ~ living on the farm, raising grapes, vegetables, pigs and chickens ~ almost every man having had a jab at being part of the local constabulary ~ and maybe even qualifying for voting.

Alas, bringing in slaves destroyed every incentive.

Rome had a dilemma ~ much like our own which is caused by automation, computerization, robotics and improved work methods ~ we can give these things up and have a stable neo-iron age social order, or we can continue to build the machinery for a more secure, and different, future. But along the way everybody's gotta' get fed.

I'm never sure if bill o'reilly thinks eating is a good practice for those who earn less money than him.

[circlecity]

"much like our own which is caused by automation, computerization, robotics and improved work methods ~ we can give these things up and have a stable neo-iron age social order, or we can continue to build the machinery for a more secure, and different, future. But along the way everybody's gotta' get fed."

Nonsense. For every job those technological advancements cost they gain 3. Totally bogus analogy.