– 2,500 Years Of Financial Crises :”Augustus Was The First Keynesian” (ZeroHedge, April 26, 2014):
“Augustus was the original Keynesian…” is how Bob Swarup, author of ‘Money Mania’, begins to explainto John Authers the constant threads of similarity between financial crises dating back to the 4th century BC; and why, it seems, we are entirely incapable of learning our lessons from them. Crucially, innovation and crises are related; and both have their roots in growing complexity, interaction and in human nature. Of course, as we noted recently, not one of our current slew of ‘great thinkers’ believes we will have another economic contraction, let alone another crisis…
As Authers concludes, crises are the negatives we have to put up with for the innovations we create… just don’t tell the central banks…
Well, yes and no. In the days of Augustus, the Romans understood wars were for profit, and booty was to fill the treasuries to enrich Rome as well as pay for its huge army.
Today’s fools fight wars that enrich a few greedy corporations at the cost of the American people. The people get all the bills, all the costs, and not one cent of the profits…..they all go to greedy guts.
That is a huge difference between Augustus and today.
Would that we had such smart leadership……we would not be facing currency collapse and the end of our empire.
One other point. A good soldier could advance and become a leader, and very rich under Augustus. Rome gave its soldiers rewards while fighting, and when they finished, they were given land (away from Italy) to settle and grow. The army offered opportunity. Today, they use the men, throw them out a day before they can get a pension, refuse to take care of their injuries, and leave them to starve in the streets.
There is no comparison to Augustus who generated a Golden Era in Rome that lasted for fifty years of his reign. Trouble came when his stepson, Tiberius, became emperor and even more horrible when Caligula got the crown after him…………