For as long as Rome could conquer new lands with significant wealth, its soldiers and emperors could enjoy spending their loot, and emperors even decided to buy themselves popularity by mandating artificially low prices of grains and other staples, sometimes even granting them for free. Instead of working for a living in the countryside, many peasa

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All in all, the long period from 1968 to 2008 was tough on the middle class from many points of view. Innovation slowed down[90], the inequality gap widened[91], economic insecurity reached heights unknown since World War II[92], and populism rose again[93]. The rise of technology has hardly eased the pain. Over time it has even made some things wo

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But opponents of state intervention didn’t lay down their arms. Fueled by ideological fervor, the fear of communism, and in-depth works by prominent economists, the ideological warfare against state intervention began again right after World War II in the form of neoliberalism[381]. It gained steam because of major societal changes. The rising aspi

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