Hi orda,
Nice article. But if you are comparing Roman and US experiences with currency, I'd advise considerable caution.
For instance, Rome ran precious metal currencies rather than paper ones and coin debasement is a bit different from the kinds of problems we are facing.
In the US, inflation is under control. The issue we are facing is there's little pricing power in the market because no one has any money with which to buy anything. High unemployment. Housing crisis. etc. Except the wealthy class, of course. So the economy is moribund. Without growth, it's hard to pay bills. We've emerged from a crisis brought on by insufficient regulation (eg of mortgages) and burdens taken on by the state which it has chosen not to pay for (eg wars, drug programs) - rather than one of excessive government.
The reason gold prices are rising is because it is a small asset class and there's a run on that asset class fuelled by the right wing analysis which expects inflation and cannot understand its non-appearance, alongside the toxic Beckoric from our friend Glenn.
The give-away is that the folks who encourage everyone to invest in precious metals are almost all the folks of the right. You will notice that in these parts too.
Here's the situation I believe we're facing with gold:
http://streetlightblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/should-we-care-about-price-of-gold.html
You can't easily compare a gold currency, which in every era has been prone to debasement, and a paper one which reflects the value of all kinds of assets. And while the lessons of Rome are instructive in total, I think you can get in very deep water comparing the detail too closely.
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