Golden Ages: How Great Civilizations from Ancient Rome to the U.S. Fall & How We Can Save Ours

We in the media obsess about America’s problems. But we should acknowledge that today, life is better than ever.

If we want that to continue, we should learn the lessons of history.

-------------------------------------------------------
To make sure you receive the weekly video from Stossel TV, sign up here:
https://www.johnstossel.com/#subscribe-form
--------------------------------------------------------

For example, lessons from the rise and fall of golden ages—like Ancient Rome!

A massive empire that lasted almost a 1000 years.

A big reason for their success was free trade.

“Rome was such a huge integrated free trade area, you could source the best material, the best technology from any part of the empire,” explains historian Johan Norberg. “Therefore, they could become the masters of the world."

But, Rome fell.

There were lots of reasons for that… disease… barbarian invaders.

But there’s also a reason that modern societies should worry about: entitlement spending!

“Rome could conquer the world but they couldn’t do entitlement reform,” says Norberg.

He explains, "Once you have a ever expanding system of entitlements, that's often the beginning of the decline and fall."

That’s just one of many lessons modern societies should learn from Rome.
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opHnY8tjzug