COMMENT: A reader has submitted this which is typical of each financial decline.
The cash seize by cities that are determined for taxes is escalating, regulation enforcement is now not about defending however producing income. The confiscation of property obtained by means of unlawful means seems affordable, but given that is civil forfeiture, no proof is required. Homes, automobiles and different property that are suspected to be anyway linked with prison exercise are being seized with out having to show something, offering an extra income for regulation enforcement businesses. Automobiles are confiscated as a result of an workplace “smells” one thing. The price of preventing the confiscation is commonly greater than the worth of the property or is greater than the sufferer can afford.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/08/12/130812fa_fact_stillman?currentPage=all
http://www.forbes.com/2011/06/08/property-civil-forfeiture.html
ANSWER: The explanation historical past repeats is somewhat easy. Human nature by no means modifications. In case you learn Edward Gibbon, who wrote in his “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” NOT for the historic occasion however for the actions, you will notice the identical patterns in human nature. It is sort of a Shakespeare play that’s carried out for hundreds of years. The story and plot stay the identical. Solely the actors change like Phantom of the Opera on Broadway for 25 years. New individuals step into the position however the songs are at all times the identical.
Gibbon wrote in regards to the forms: “Suspicious princes often promote the last of mankind, from a vain persuasion, that those who have no dependence, except on their favor, will have no attachment, except to the person of their benefactor.”
Edward Gibbon wrote of Commodus: Every
“distinction of every kind soon became criminal. The possession of wealth stimulated the diligence of the informers; rigid virtue implied a tacit censure of the irregularities of Commodus; important services implied a dangerous superiority of merit; and the friendship of the father always insured the aversion of the son. Suspicion was equivalent to proof; trial to condemnation. The execution of a considerable senator was attended with the death of all who might lament or revenge his fate; and when Commodus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse”
(E-book 1, Chapter 4).
If we quick ahead to Maximinus I (235-238AD), Gibbons wrote that “The cruelty of Maximin was derived from a different source, the fear of contempt.” He used conspiracy as does the US right now the place the crime requires no proof of doing one thing, it’s merely an settlement to do one thing. You undergo the identical destiny as in case you did the crime, and there are tons of crimes that everybody violates day by day, as identified within the guide Three Felonies A Day.
Gibbon wrote: “The dark and sanguinary soul of the tyrant was open to every suspicion against those among his subjects who were the most distinguished by their birth or merit. Whenever he was alarmed with the sound of treason, his cruelty was unbounded and unrelenting. A conspiracy against his life was either discovered or imagined, and Magnus, a consular senator, was named as the principal author of it. Without a witness, without a trial, and without an opportunity of defence, Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices, was put to death. Italy and the whole empire were infested with innumerable spies and informers. On the slightest accusation, the first of the Roman nobles, who had governed provinces, commanded armies, and been adorned with the consular and triumphal ornaments, were chained on the public carriages, and hurried away to the emperor’s presence. Confiscation, exile, or simple death, were esteemed uncommon instances of his lenity. Some of the unfortunate sufferers he ordered to be sewed up in the hides of slaughtered animals, others to be exposed to wild beasts, others again to be beaten to death with clubs. During the three years of his reign, he disdained to visit either Rome or Italy. His camp, occasionally removed from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Danube, was the seat of his stern despotism, which trampled on every principle of law and justice, and was supported by the avowed power of the sword. No man of noble birth, elegant accomplishments, or knowledge of civil business, was suffered near his person; and the court of a Roman emperor revived the idea of those ancient chiefs of slaves and gladiators, whose savage power had left a deep impression of terror and detestation.” (E-book VII)
That is the person who merely declared all wealth belonged to the state. This impressed the collapse within the velocity of cash because it went into hiding. Hoards of cash buried from this time interval are nonetheless being discovered to this present day. That is what destroyed Rome. It was not hyperinflation however deflation because the economic system merely imploded. That is what occurs when authorities hunts down its personal individuals for cash.
