Debt is a problem, can be a problem, almost certainly will be a problem. The difficulty with this analysis is the different behaviors at the macro and micro levels. Macro debt like we have leads to inflation; micro debt of one person leads to poverty. Macro debt makes everyone poor, discourages thrift and savings, creates a culture of irresponsibility, instability, and reduced investment.

As for technology dying... there are things we can't do today we did 100 years and 50 years ago. Stonemasons are a dead art, basically. Going to the moon is a new challenge. Industries and assemblies fall apart for things that aren't done actively.

That, by the way, is what happened with the collapse of Rome. Knowledge largely persisted and technology continued to improve, but systems of interlocking parts - often involving the central government - collapsed. That really could happen to us.

Let's leave Rome out of this shall we? I'm finding myself more annoyed by the comparisons every day. The Roman empire lasted hundreds of years in the corrupt state folks refer to -- far, far longer than the US has been around.

Other than the fact Rome was populated by people who left writings that some folks used to actually read -- and I'm betting this poster cannot read Latin -- it has practically nothing in common with modern societies. It was a military empire. Democracy did not exist. Freedom of religion was an idea more than 1000 years away. It was a slave society. The idea of work ethic had not been invented. The idea of progress was not one the Romans ever had. I could go on, but suffice it to say that ancient societies are so far removed from our experiences that there is little to be gained by invoking such comparisons -- except to fool people who don't know better.