This is exactly how the Roman empire collapsed – not from invading barbarians from the outside – from the government looting its own citizens. It got so bad in Rome, that families abandoned their property and left town because the shakedown from government was so bad.
@MBerger47 Indeed. Here’s a concise, visual depiction (for your average college grad who never reads a book) of how Rome’s ever-increasing and unsustainable military reach led to currency devaluation, rampant inflation, and yet more “legalized theft” (taxes).
Thanks for that link Pookie–nice solid depiction with graphs and maps, showing the 400 year downward slide. I’m going to put that in front of my teenagers.
It would be really neat if that site would give the same treatment to the second Rome, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire that went on for another thousand years. Neater still, would be the additional depiction of the third Rome, Russia, which has gone through such dramatic changes over the last century. Here’s a recent third Rome article I ran across:
Within the article it mentions a piece written by Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that I find both interesting and very challenging to unpack, given the complexity of what’s happened since the overthrow of the 1000 year orthodox tradition in Russia, by the atheistic Bolsheviks in 1917. I believe there is a lot to be learned by studying the transition 10 years later from the western-financed Bolshevik revolutionaries to the Stalinist regime, and then the resurrection of an increasingly Orthodox Russia since Putin became president in 2000 . If nothing else, just the sheer longevity Mr Lavrov is demonstrating in his important position gives the following article weight.
Given the rise in influence of the Neocon/Neobolsheviks in the U.S. since 9/11, it would behoove us all to get real familiar with Russia’s last 100 years.
Defense.gov News Photo 110426-A-7597S-183: U.S. Special Operations service members with Special Operations Task Force South board two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters following a clearing operation in Panjwa'i district in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, on April 25, 2011. Source: Wikimedia.
This is exactly how the Roman empire collapsed – not from invading barbarians from the outside – from the government looting its own citizens. It got so bad in Rome, that families abandoned their property and left town because the shakedown from government was so bad.
@MBerger47 Indeed. Here’s a concise, visual depiction (for your average college grad who never reads a book) of how Rome’s ever-increasing and unsustainable military reach led to currency devaluation, rampant inflation, and yet more “legalized theft” (taxes).
Currency and the Collapse of the Roman Empire:
http://money.visualcapitalist.com/currency-and-the-collapse-of-the-roman-empire/
Thanks for that link Pookie–nice solid depiction with graphs and maps, showing the 400 year downward slide. I’m going to put that in front of my teenagers.
It would be really neat if that site would give the same treatment to the second Rome, the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire that went on for another thousand years. Neater still, would be the additional depiction of the third Rome, Russia, which has gone through such dramatic changes over the last century. Here’s a recent third Rome article I ran across:
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/third-rome-rising-the-ideologues-calling-new-russian-empire-16748
Within the article it mentions a piece written by Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov that I find both interesting and very challenging to unpack, given the complexity of what’s happened since the overthrow of the 1000 year orthodox tradition in Russia, by the atheistic Bolsheviks in 1917. I believe there is a lot to be learned by studying the transition 10 years later from the western-financed Bolshevik revolutionaries to the Stalinist regime, and then the resurrection of an increasingly Orthodox Russia since Putin became president in 2000 . If nothing else, just the sheer longevity Mr Lavrov is demonstrating in his important position gives the following article weight.
http://eng.globalaffairs.ru/number/Russias-Foreign-Policy-in-a-Historical-Perspective-18067
Given the rise in influence of the Neocon/Neobolsheviks in the U.S. since 9/11, it would behoove us all to get real familiar with Russia’s last 100 years.