Fall of the Roman Empire To pay for their excesses, emperors devalued the currency. Nero reduced the silver content of coins to 95 percent. Then Trajan reduced it to 85 percent and so on. By the year 300, wheat that once cost eight Roman dollars cost 120,000 Roman dollars.... The president of the Foundation for Economic Education, Lawrence Reed, warned that Rome, had an expanding welfare state. It started with “subsidized grain. The government gave it away at half price. But the problem was that they couldn’t stop there ... a man named Claudius ran for Tribune on a platform of free wheat for the masses. And won. It was downhill from there.” Soon, to appease angry voters, emperors gave away or subsidized olive oil, salt and pork. People lined up to get free stuff. Rome’s government, much like ours, wasn’t good at making sure subsidies flowed only to the poor, said Reed: “Anybody could line up to get these goods, which contributed to the ultimate bankruptcy of the Roman state.” As inflation increased, Rome, imposed wage and price controls. When people objected, Emperor Diocletian denounced their “greed,” saying, “Shared humanity urges us to set a limit.”
Posted on: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 08:09:33 +0000