Never Underestimate the Desperation of a Broke Government

Interesting article by Martin Armstrong at Financial Sense:

This is exactly how Rome collapsed. There was a Roman Emperor, Maximinus in 238 [AD], he simply declared all wealth in the Roman Empire to be his. That's it. And, what happened, is that, and what you're going to see over the next few years, as you attack the rich, as the Romans did, what happens is that, somebody now hoards their money. They no longer invest it, they hide it, and they don't keep it in banks. And consequently, that reduces the velocity of money. And as it reduces the velocity that is what creates the economic decline. So that interest rates, even during the Great Depression, fell to 1%, nobody would borrow because they didn't see an opportunity to make money. And every possible mistake that every government has made before us, we are following step by step.

and he goes on:

We have a conviction rate in this country that is 10% higher than Adolph Hitler. I mean that's alarming. The only person we haven't beaten is Stalin, and that's only because he basically said, "Take everybody away." But I mean the most notorious court of Adolph Hitler had a conviction rate of 90%. We're at 99! I mean, what does that tell you? The federal government can never be wrong about anybody at any time. So it's pretty scary.