![]() There were some surpluses under Clinton (1992-2000) and then the deficits exploded again under Bush II (2000-08). There have been only five years since then where the budget was in surplus – in 1969, under Richard Nixon, and 1998-2001 under Bill Clinton. The US has been running a budget deficit almost continually since 1961. ![]() Start with “the budget should be balanced”. One can only guess that the rot was visible even as the Roman Republic was ending. One cannot but be struck by the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero in 55 BC (the quote in the denarius chart above), long before the actual collapse of the Roman Empire. The collapse of the Empire was economic, and at the heart of it was debasement of the currency. If there was one thing that did hold its value it was the gold aureus, but it too was replaced by the gold solidus under Constantine I ‘the Great’ (310-337 AD) and his son Constantine II (337-340 AD). By the fifth century, the bronze follis fell into disrepute and the long period of the Roman Empire ended. There were further attempts to reform the monetary system but the end result was the same. By 310 AD, the argentus silver content was only 50% of what it had been initially, and the antoninianus eventually disappeared as the bronze weight of the follis was reduced. However, the new system was largely unsuccessful as again a lack of silver soon had them debasing even the argentus. The antoninianus continued to be produced although it was now made of bronze five antoninianus were equal to one follis. ![]() The common coin was bronze and known as the follis. He re-established the gold aureus and brought back the denarius, now called the argentus. Old sestertius and asses were melted down to make new antoninianus.ĭiocletian (284-305 AD) attempted to reform the monetary system before abdicating. The silver purity of the antoninianus, which was around 40% in 240, was down to 5% by 270. Emperors came and went, and while there were attempts to increase the weight of the antoninianus under Aurelian (270-275 AD), the debasement continued. This led to further debasement of the currency. Even the bronze coins were debased with the use of tin or zinc.īut the emperors still had to pay their armies to buy loyalty. This, coupled with depletion of the Roman silver mines, meant silver became scarce and coins in circulation were primarily bronze. ![]() The introduction of the antoninianus unleashed inflation. The antoninianus was then debased and eventually was made of just bronze, although sometimes washed with silver. The antoninianus initially was made of silver and was set at two denarii. The debasement of the denarius continued with the introduction of the antoninianus in 215 AD under the emperor Caracalla (198-217). Under the emperor Commodus (177-192 AD), the silver content fell to 70%, and then following a brief period of civil war, the emperor Septimus Severus (193-211) lowered the silver content to 45%.įoreign wars, a vast empire to police and finance, a restless population where there were soon more on the dole than there were working gave rise to a series of monetary crises. It continued to be lowered under later emperors but it was towards the end of the third century AD that a more serious debasement got under way. Under Nero (54-68 AD) it was reduced again, to 3.4 grams. Under the emperor Augustus (27 BC – 14 AD) the silver content fell to 3.9 grams. Its debasement began near the end of the Republican period and the start of the period known as the Roman Empire. It formed the backbone of the Roman Republic. In terms of measurement, it contained 4.5 grams of silver. Initially, the denarius contained roughly 90% silver. Two-and-a-half asses were equivalent to a sestertius 25 denarii equalled a gold aureus. The denarius was set at a price of 10 bronze asses (no jokes, please). It came into use around 212 BC and was a kind of successor to the Greek drachma, which was the reserve currency during the period of the Greek empire. The Roman denarius was the reserve currency of the Roman Empire. It reminded me of the chart of the loss of US$ purchasing power since 1774. I found the chart showing the decline of the silver content of the Roman denarius quite fascinating. Trajan Decius (249-251 AD) followed Phillip the Arab (244-249 AD). ![]() That period saw the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD). Source: Note: on the chart above, the listing of Trajan Decius between the emperors Titus (79-81 AD) and Hadrian (117-138 AD) looks to be a mistake. ![]()
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