From: buzzard554@fastmail.co.uk   
      
   On 7/29/2019 3:36 AM, Oh so rich & successful JTEM wrote:   
   >   
   > There has never been a time in western history when idiots   
   > hadn't compared their nation to Rome, for good or bad.   
   >   
   > Rome didn't fall because of handouts. Periods.   
   >   
   > In ye days of olde the elite used to pretend it was high taxes   
   > that caused the collapsed. Well, that old horse was beaten   
   > into the ground so now it's GIVING free stuff instead of   
   > TAKING money in taxes.   
   >   
   >   
      
   The analogy is not quite empty though.  Amalgamation of estates,   
   dependence on slaves, though in the modern economy the slaves are   
   machines.  The human equivalent are the perioikoi in the gig economy.   
   Above all there is the massive concentration of wealth and the   
   impoverishment of the masses at a time when it would be possible for   
   everyone to live in modest comfort.  Somewhere in the forest the tree   
   was growing..........   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)