FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 1) Decline of Morals and Values! * High Crime rates in major cities! (Rome) Murders in USA in 2009 #16,204. (#9369 by handguns) 1out 4 a victim of crime in USA. Over 2 million in jails.(Nationmasters.2009) * Leaders had lavish /expensive parties. Lived a high lifestyle (Rome)….Super rich (USA)! * Prostitutes in (Rome) / internet pornography a billion dollars industry. * Violent games (Gladiators) …Video games, tv, movies………. * The average American child watches 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elementary school (marketreasearch.com).

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 2) Public health * Alcoholism a problem…..Drugs and alcohol in USA a major problem. 1/3 * Homeless. * Diseases spread…. H1N1, Cancer, AIDS, MSRA, Bird Flu, Mad cow……. * Obesity is now consider the number one health threat. 36.6% of Americans are overweight and 26.5% obese= 63.1%

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 3) Political Corruption. * Assassination… 4 in last 120 years in USA (plots and attempts) * Ineffective election system…Electoral college.. * Special Interest groups…..Tobacco lobbyist, Trial lawyers, gaming industry.. (legal bribery) * Supreme court ruling allowing PAC’s/Special interest groups should treated as individuals when contributing to campaigns. Which means they can unlimited amount of money. (They ruled as Free speech.) * Over the last several decades, the number of bills passed by Congress has declined: In 1948, Congress passed 906 bills. In 2006, it passed only 482. At the same time, the total number of pages of legislation has gone up from slightly more than 2,000 pages in 1948 to more than 7,000 pages in (The average bill length increased over the same period from 2.5 pages to 15.2 pages.)

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 4) Unemployment * Slave labor meant good business (r) ….. Outsources of jobs to Mexico/China/India *Government hand outs (grain/Rome) USA=bail-outs of failing businesses. (Chevy/Dodge/Citicorp/AIG..etc) Tax breaks for the rich. *Farmer sell goods cheaply, couldn’t compete/lost or sold farms.(r) Wal-mart effect..Cheap goods drive biz’s out. Unemployment rise 9%. Economy in toilet. *Job competition is increasing. Companies are hiring out of the country. Including skilled (computer engineers, etc) and unskilled. 25% of all tech job now from outside of USA.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 5) Urban decay (cities.. falling apart) *Crowded conditions in cities (slums) ---USA has slums too. 5% Live in poverty. 1out 4 go to bed hungry in the USA. * High crime rate /homelessness (Major cities)– Same as USA. Gov has not invest $ in those communities. (Detroit) *Roman roads bridges disrepair. USA roads and bridges are failing.. Infrastructure (roads/power systems) is old.. To fix our infrastructure, from dilapidated levees to congested roadways and ports, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has estimated that the country needs to spend $1.6 trillion over five years. Only $1 trillion of that, the organization says, has been allocated or promised. Accepting those numbers, we need an additional $600 billion to reverse the slide of infrastructure, a figure that seems as difficult to produce as it is to comprehend..

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 6) Inferior Technology *Human and animal labor and failed to develop new tech (R). *Old ways still used in many industries. New tech too expensive. (USA) *Not adapting new tech (weapons tech). (Losing its tech edge.. Not enough computer science degrees. India/China out pacing us..

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 7) Military Spending 1. Massive military spending left few dollars for other needs.. to defend borders (Rome) Over 1 billion dollars daily for USA. 13 trillion dollars of debt Military budget was $663.8 billion. This figure does not including Afghanistan and Iraq operational budgets. 2. In Rome this leads to high inflation and recession depression-era spending.. Same as the USA.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities 8) Inflation 1. Weren’t expanding therefore not getting new revenue streams (gold) Gold was then used in luxury item by rich Roman coins had less gold so they worth less…. 2. USA dollar worth less on the open market. 3. Salary of workers went down prices of goods went up….Same as USA

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Similarities Final Thoughts………… Final Thoughts…………

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences (positives) Decline of Morals and Values! Decline of Morals and Values! 1. Highest rate of church goers in developed world. 2. Largest contributor of charities in the world 8 out of every 10 dollars. 3. Does our violent entertainment really reflect our true values…It’s only entertainment??? 4. All crime rates have dropped in the last 12 years. (Most major cities crime rate decline 2008) 5. Very diverse and very family centered. (tolerance)

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Public health 1. The best medical care in the world.. 2. Highest survival rate for all medical procedures. 3. Highest levels of specialist (Dr’s).in world. 4. More options for types of care. 5. New medical tech coming from USA.. Nano tech. Biologic’s.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Political corruption. Political corruption. 1. New policies on spending/and political action groups. (What it is…) 2. New laws to stop ear marks. 3. Watchdog organization that monitor political action committee’s. (Media) 4. New movements in political arena. Tea party/ populist / New wave of Democrats.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Unemployment Unemployment 1. If USA develops new tech in renewable energy 2 million jobs created. 2. Shovel jobs … rebuilding instructure (roads/bridges..etc) 3-4 million jobs created. 3. The economy is recovering.. Which will lead to more jobs. Retailers are looking at the best season in the last 7 years.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Urban decay Urban decay 1. New growth in cities.. Office space developed… New roads, new bridges, new public transportation, new electric grid, new sewers, new water line.. 2. New technology being applied to urban growth. 3. Rebuilding of our infrastructure through stimulus package. Allocate one trillion over next ten years to upgrade infrastructure million invested in Washington state for new bridges and light rail.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Inferior Technology Inferior Technology 1. Cutting edge tech is still the USA main export. Military and civilian tech. 2. #1 in all software production. (Microsoft) 3. Bio-tech fields. 4. Energy/ Alternative fuels being developed and mass produced. Solar panels have drop in price by ½ over last four years. 5. Military tech (65% budget to 15 % developing..) Still advancing!!!! 6. USA’S Universities/college still producing many important research /medical/technology advancements. Many developing countries want their brightest students to attend school in the USA. U of W has 20,000 applications a year from ASIA.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Military Spending Military Spending 1. Still investing enormous amounts of dough!!!!!!!!! Over a trillion dollars every 2 years! $494 billion yearly. This spending makes the US Military unmatched worldwide as a military and global force. 2. Creates new technologies that will drive our economy in the future. (Robotics, Medicine, aviation, etc) 3. Not going to slow down due to the unstable political environment in our world. (terrorist…Large unstable countries….crisis's) Is changing to meet these new types of conflicts. (Stryker Brigade) 4. USA act as the world police! Need a flexible and Mobile force.

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Inflation Inflation 1. Economic outlook better than Rome, More diverse economy. Trade is not going anywhere. New Technology’s being developed such as Bio-tech/Green industries/computer software all are allowing our economy to diversify and grow even in bad economic times. (USA is competitive in global market place.) 2. New Economic policies will stabilize situations! (Regulations on banks, mortgages, industries) 3. New Tech (renewable) will drive down cost of goods.. Transportation cost make up for 10% of cost. (New alternative fuels)

FALL OF ROME/UNITED STATES? Differences Final Thoughts………… Final Thoughts…………