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#1
02-18-2009, 11:24 AM
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This guy knew it in 55 BC
This guy knew it in 55 BC so why the f**k cant we learn from our own history?
"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance." Cicero - 55 BC
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 1987 560SL85,000 miles Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
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#2
02-18-2009, 12:15 PM
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well he know the problem, but what was his solution?
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 1982 300CD Turbo (Otis, "ups & downs") parts for sale 2003 TJ with Hemi (to go anywhere, quickly) sold 2001 Excursion Powerstroke (to go dependably) 1970 Mustang 428SCJ (to go fast) 1962 Corvette LS1 (to go in style) 2001 Schwinn Grape Krate 10spd (if all else fails)
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#3
02-18-2009, 01:20 PM
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They failed and Rome burned a few hundred years later.
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1999 SL500 1969 280SE 2023 Ram 1500 2007 Tiara 3200
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#5
02-18-2009, 01:25 PM
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You aren't talking fairy tales and this isn't Rumpelstiltskin.
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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow
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#6
02-18-2009, 01:27 PM
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Mmmm, if we learn from history it's that all super powers come to an end...
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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).
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#7
02-18-2009, 01:29 PM
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Quote:
__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow
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#8
02-18-2009, 01:33 PM
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Quote:
__________________
1987 560SL85,000 miles Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
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#9
02-18-2009, 01:35 PM
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Quote:
__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow
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#10
02-18-2009, 01:41 PM
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Quote:
I get them confused at times 
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1987 560SL85,000 miles Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
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#11
02-18-2009, 01:56 PM
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Quote:
__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke 99 E300 Turbodiesel 91 Vette with 383 motor 05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI 06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red 03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow 04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler 11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow
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#12
02-18-2009, 02:23 PM
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Diamonds, great metaphor: artificial priced product, just like a modern super power, release it all and it will imploded.
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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).
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#13
02-18-2009, 02:28 PM
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Quote:
Well, no, it was Cicero and the Roman Republic that came to an end. The Roman Empire went on for another 450 years, and their problem was not an unbalanced budget or foreign aid, it was millions of barbarians who were being driven west by the Mongols and the Huns spilling into the Roman Empire. I find Cicero's statement utterly irrelevent, never mind that it did not actually come to pass. History has shown super powers come to an end over the need to maintain massive defense budgets to defend their over extended empires. We are certainly on that precipice.
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#14
02-18-2009, 03:28 PM
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not to mention gold and silver drain from purchasing of imported goods.
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1984 300SD Orient Red/ Palomino 1989 560SEC 2016 Mazda 6 6 speed manual 1995 Ford F-150 reg cab 4.9 5speed manual
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#15
02-18-2009, 03:35 PM
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The Romans only imported what they couldn't steal. The drain on their precious metals came from the need to pay vast armies, so they diluted their coinage. The Roman Emperors devised many ingenious methods to debase and make their money cheaper. Silver coins went through a series of devaluation stages - reducing the size of the coins, shrinking the silver content while increasing the alloys etc. It got so bad, that by the year 225 bronze coins were merely washed with a scant coating of silver. This was done for one simple reason - to have enough coinage to distribute to their vast mercenary armies. Making it worse was the populace, who had a bad habit of scrapping off a small amount of any coin that came their way. By the time of the late empire, their currency was worthless and their armies revolted as a result, returning to their barbarian tribes so that they could scrape off a chunk off the empire instead.
If one is looking for a model of the fall of the American Empire, the model would be Britain, not Rome.
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