[galdosdi]

This excess greed in the shareholding class is really disturbing, because historically very similar behavior has preceded decadence, decline, and fall.

The roman empire's last decades and centuries were marked by huge growth in the latifundium (large plantations owned by a few rich politically connected men) which were powered by cheap slave labor in contrast to the earlier freeholding small farmers who famously formed the backbone of the Roman state by earning their farms in exchange for their ten years or military service, thus achieving the Roman Dream.

Ironically the latifundium, in their quest to maximize growth and profits for the few at all costs, were actually far less productive than the freeholders.

It is disturbing how close an analogy this forms to modern Wall St culture focused on "growth at all costs" and only thinking one quarter ahead at a time

[yoyohello13]

The more things change the more they stay the same. Despite all our progress we are still the same humans we were 1000 years ago. There will always be people getting rich off of others labor. Eventually the working class gets mad enough to re-balance power for a time until the cycle starts again. For some reason we just accept this as inevitable.