The Roman Empire died an economic death. The elites, the emperor and senators, spent all the money in the imperial coffers and ran out of taxpayers to pay the salaries of the military, support the unemployed peasants, and support the elites’ lavish lifestyle. They debased their currency and had massive hyperinflation. Economic chaos followed, and Rome fell to barbarian invaders in AD 476.
Today’s economy is far more complex. It can be manipulated by the Federal Reserve through money printing, debt instruments, controlling interest rates, and manipulating markets. Manipulation can both cause problems and be used to prevent or forestall problems. But in the end, wealth is finite, and if it is squandered, will run out eventually. Like Rome, we are spending more than we collect in taxes. The economy has been deteriorating and continues to do so with minor positive blips. Manipulation of the economy has prevented major collapse to date, but the future is very uncertain. Compare the situation to a car with a full tank of gas. The fuel will eventually all be used. You can increase your gas mileage by coasting downhill, driving slowly, and using other tricks, but eventually you will still run out of gas. So it is with our economy. Eventually we will run out of gas.
To complicate matters, millions of jobs have been exported to countries where salaries of workers are a fraction of those in the United States and antipollution laws are sparse or absent. As a result, unemployment in the United States has skyrocketed, and unemployed workers have little or no money to spend other than their unemployment benefits. Retail sales have been in decline. When unable to meet their daily living expenses, people use their credit cards and go into debt. They stop paying their mortgages and car payments and eventually lose their homes and cars.
To compound the unemployment problem, our educational system has failed us. In some larger cities, the high school graduation rate has dropped below 50 percent. Angry and desperate, many of these high school dropouts join gangs and take up a life of crime and drug addiction. College graduation standards have dropped so significantly that even many college graduates lack English and mathematics skills necessary for today’s job market. These are staggering and alarming findings. These uneducated young people are generally unemployable and end up with either low-paying jobs or on public assistance programs.
The risk of economic collapse is real. Precipitated by a stock market crash or other event, a bank holiday may be called. Bank accounts would be frozen and credit cards would become nonfunctional. The potential for civil disorder would be high, with possible riots, burning, and looting. Public utilities may become nonfunctional. Under these conditions, civil behavior disappears and barbarism prevails. You need to be prepared to survive times such as these.
