You’ve heard the old saying, “Rome was not built in a day,” and similarly, despite the common myth, the collapse of the Roman Empire did not happen overnight either. In fact, speaking on the subject of Rome’s fabled collapse one historian put it this way: “the collapse of the Roman Empire was a slow, gradual process spanning many, many years in which all of their institutions—political, social, economic and military—underwent a steady decline, culminating with a barbarian invasion that was its final doom.”

So the question is this: Are there similarities between the Roman Empire of the past and the United States here in the 21st century? According to many experts there are, and these same experts claim that unless the United States begins to recognize these similarities we could be headed for a similar fate, beginning with the coming financial crisis in the U.S.

The Economic Collapse of the Roman Empire and the United States: Similarities

In its day the Roman Empire was what we would now refer to as the superpower of the world, much as the United States is today, both militarily and economically. But for the purpose of this article we will look strictly at the economic similarities. Here are a few:

• Debasement of the Currency. The Roman monetary unit called the Denarius began as pure silver and was only 0.5% silver at the time of the fall, and the United States dollar similarly was 90% silver from the 1794 until 1964, when silver was removed from all U.S. coinage except the half dollar, which had a 40% content of silver until 1969. From 1970 onward, all U.S. coinage for circulation has been void of silver.

• Increased Taxation. As the value of the Roman currency declined the Empire began to rely more heavily on taxation of the population, especially the most productive segments which included the farmers. Ring any bells?

• Mistrust of the Ruling Class. With the increased taxation and poorer living conditions, the people of the Roman Empire began to mistrust the ruling party, hiding and stashing their assets as opposed to contributing to the state. And today in the United States we are seeing a trend of more Americans saving their money rather than investing.

The one key difference between the Roman Empire and the United States of today is that the Romans were not mired in debt the way we are, which could make our current situation even more dire than the one that ended so badly for them.

Many would dismiss these similarities as an “apples and oranges” scenario, but if nothing else, there are certainly some lessons to be learned from the collapse of the Roman Empire and how it mirrors the current American situation. Hopefully Americans will not get so frustrated by the government’s handling of the situation—as the Romans did—where they actually welcome the barbarians at the gate.