I am sure you have heard the news…
Every time you turn on the TV, you hear something horrific that is going in the US.
While I personally try not pay attention the negative news, I found myself wondering what was real and what wasn’t. Where there’s smoke there is fire.
As I started looking into some of the different American issues I realized we had a unique resemblance to Rome in many ways.
Specifically, the wage in America. Is america the next rome?
The Wage Gap in America is similar to Rome.
The wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower-income families have increased 40 percent higher than have ever been recorded for 30 years. According to some historians, the Roman society controlled 16 percent of the wealth. Which is less than half of America’s percent control. The wealth of white households is ten times the wealth of non-white households. Rome has tried numerous times to fix the crisis between the Patricians and Plebeians, but the increase of slavery, unemployed,inflation, and corrupt and greedy government officials and patricians (who desire wealth and power other than civic duties) have made these problems irreversible and would continue on until Rome’s fall in 476 C.E. Most of hispanic and black students need a lot of financial help to afford college and other things. In 2016 however, it has been reported that 42% of black families have more student loan debt than white families. Rome may have subtitute money to the plebians to buy goods such as wheat, but Rome cannot lower education costs the plebeians needed, making them uneducated.
Three facts to consider:
-The gap between the rich and poor have increased for years
-The wage gap based on different ethical and social classes (For America: whites and non-whites. For Romans: Patricians and Plebeians.)
-The strategies to help and provide benefits to poor doesn’t always seems to work
The life of richness shelters dark reality
If you’re wealthy in America, then you have give up your relationships, future, and passions and making your wealth your entire life. Roman emperors spend huge sums of money on parties, festivals, and for their personal gain. They only cared about having money and power rather than doing civic duties. A huge empire with tremendous wealth can slowly fall due to bad leadership. This causes invaders to easily attack the empire and people with little money can due to starvation and disease. If you buy nice things, people perceive you as being materialistic or “show off” regardless if it’s true or not. The plebeians at one time, revolted against the patricians due to the fact the patricians make unfair laws that the plebeians doesn’t even know about. During the Roman empire, the plebeians suffer poverty and poor health conditions while the plebeians waste their lives spending money and partying. In both America and Rome, the population of common and poor people greater than wealthy people and aristocrats.
Three facts to consider
-Having tremendous wealth makes you forget who you are.
-The views of wealthy people are negative.
-More common people and less wealthy people.
Poverty in two worlds
In both America and Rome, people continuously buying goods and increasing prices can cause people to be impoverished. In fact, inflation is one of the main contributions to the fall of Rome. As of 2015, millions of americans have lived in poverty although at different times in history. That pretty much how common people in Ancient Rome have live for thousands of years. Decreased trade, worthless money, and tension between neighboring nations may cause a lot of people to be impoverished.
Three facts to consider
-Inflation=poverty.
-The number of people and years of being impoverished have increased.
-The contributions leading to poverty.
Lazy/apathetic aristocrats
You probably already know celebrities and politicians in America who are millionaires or billionaires for many different things. However, some people who aren’t rich believe wealthy people are lazy. If people earn tremendous amounts of money, they might spend the rest of their lives drinking, partying, and socializing rather than going to work or run the government. That’s exactly how Roman emperors spend their leisure times after creating a huge and wealthy empire and then they don’t care about their jobs anymore. Sometimes, having good amounts of money will make you head of the government. But people shouldn’t be leaders who are conceited and only caring about their wealth. Leaders should be caring, kind, and generous to his people no matter the social class.
Three facts to consider
-Are wealthy people really workaholic?
-Lavish lifestyles after becoming rich.
-Money doesn’t always make you powerful.
In my conclusion, America is the next Rome.
Work cited:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-charts-explain-why-some-american-families-are-getting-far-richer-than-others-2017-10-05https://www.businessinsider.com/downsides-of-getting-rich-2014-6https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_the_United_Stateshttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-w-orlando/the-rich-arent-rich-becau_b_4791626.htmlhttps://persquaremile.com/2011/12/16/income-inequality-in-the-roman-empire/https://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/falloftheromanempire/