Every empire follows the same arc:
1. Hard money enables trust → trade flourishes
2. Trade creates wealth → military expands
3. Military expansion is expensive → money is debased
4. Debased money destroys trust → trade contracts
5. Contracted trade weakens the economy → empire declines
Rome clipped coins. Spain inflated with New World gold. Britain abandoned the gold standard. America closed the gold window in 1971.
The pattern is not a theory. It is the historical record, repeated across millennia with different technologies but identical incentive structures.
The only variable is how long stage 3 lasts before stage 4 becomes undeniable. Technology and reserve currency status can extend it. But the math always wins eventually.
We are in stage 3, approaching stage 4.
Bitcoin is the first technology that makes it possible for individuals to opt out of stage 4 without leaving the jurisdiction. That has never existed before.
#history #economics #empire #bitcoin #gold #monetaryhistory #macro