The fall of Rome

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/12/inequality-and-economic-collapses

Dear Tiger,

Interesting hypothesis above. But they didn't have Rome on their list, which makes their hypothesis doubtful. Can't seriously talk about the fall of civilization without mentioning Rome

To save you reading the article, they quote a nice econ paper which claims that economic crashes go like this:

The rich take all the money.
They loan it to the poor so the poor can buy things from the rich
    -- or at least buy enough food so they don't have to eat the rich.
The financial sector helps
The whole system becomes overleveraged and crashes

Can you use this as the "red thread" which ties together Greece, Ireland, Tunisia, Egypt, Lybia, and Wisconsin?

Interesting times.

+glenn