“A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within. The essential causes of Rome’s decline lay in her people, her morals, her class struggle, her failing trade, her bureaucratic despotism, her stifling taxes, her consuming wars.”

– Will Durant, The Story Of Civilization III, Epilogue, 1944.

The above quote circulates as such, but it is a synthesis from his Epilogue Why Rome Fell?. Based upon this writer’s independent review of the collapse, it is an accurate summary. And the collapse was due to the bureaucracy intruding and spending money until, literally, it was all gone. As with today’s great experiment in authoritarian government, it began with immense wealth. In Rome’s case accumulated through conquest.

The latest authoritarian banners has included the “Genius of the Fed”

Successful bureaucratic intrusion starts at a relatively low level, only taking enough not to upset the taxpayer and the country’s main businesses. Eventually, civil servants will push taxation to the point of pain to the citizens and then supplement tax revenues with the cheat of inflation through currency depreciation. Thus, all three such great experiments have been accompanied by chronic price inflation.

Rome’s experiment was headed by the inspiring banner the “Genius of the Emperor”. The next such experiment started in 1500 when the banner was the “Infallibility of the Pope”. The Church was corrupted by a bureaucracy that eventually became venal and murderous.

This culminated with the combination of church and state forcing too much in-your-face and in-your-wallet government. In the early 1600s, the costly intrusion inspired a number of popular uprisings that eventually added up to a great reformation.

“Genius of the Fed”

The latest authoritarian banners has included the “Genius of the Fed.”

Recently, it seems that the Deep State has been on a roll with a remarkable cluster of fearful issues. These have been promoted such that only big and commanding government can provide solutions. “Global Warming” had morphed into “Climate Change”, before becoming “Climate Hysteria”. And “SARS-CoV-2” has provided the magic incantation to suddenly trash the global economy—one country at a time.

This has never happened before and quite soon ordinary folk will see it as yet another scam by control freaks. Forcing people to stay at home and not spend money. So,