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Gibbon, Vol I of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire, begins with the fall of the republic into tyranny. He noted that the aristocracy encouraged emigration of cheap labor from tribes that lacked sound republican traditions. They then funded the campaigns of demagogues who pandered to ethnicities while making deals under the table to reduce the taxes on the rich.
Machiavelli observed that these demagogues promised what we now call 'entitlements'. But since they could not raise taxes on the people who actually had the money to pay, they *borrow* the money from the rich. Which Mach says works... for a while. But eventually, some creditor sees that the tax base will no longer service the debt much less pay it off, and he refuses to lend more. At which point there is financial panic. The government no longer has the money to pay the troops, who then go into business for themselves, dragging the bastards out to be shot.
Its not clear how long this will take. The Chinese have been lending us the money, and since they've had bad crop failures this year, will keep on doing that. But if the Three Gorges Irrigation project provides as much food as they hope for in a few years, then they'll blow off the US
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