There are many similarities between the problems that caused the "fall of Rome" and the present-day problems that the United States is struggling with.

First of all, there are similarities between the political problems of the two. In Rome, people felt gradually less responsibility to the government but still expected the government to look after their needs. This is very similar to some situations in the United States. Many people take advantage of our present welfare system. They want to sit at home, not doing anything or helping anyone, and get paid by the government. Some people pretend like they are hurt or even have more children so they can sit at home, be lazy, and get money. People in both situations want someone to take care of them without them having to work for it. It all stems from laziness. They want something for nothing. The United States can also relate to Rome’s problem of widespread corruption in the government. Many government officials in both situations were just in it for the money, not to help the government, and were therefore easily bought off. This hurt Rome because many people who didn’t care at all about the people got into high government positions. The same is happening somewhat to the United States. Luckily, we have laws and regulations that limit the amount of money a candidate for office can receive to minimize bribery and corruption in the government.

There were also many economic problems in Rome that can be compared to those of the United States. In Rome, efforts to increase money supply by devaluing currency caused inflation. This was one cause of the raising of taxes to high levels in Rome. The United States may not have tried to devalue the currency, but there is much inflation. That is one reason that we pay such heavy taxes now. Our money isn’t worth what it once was. There was also an unfavorable balance of trade in Rome. They were importing more than they were exporting. The situation is again very similar in the United States. We import profuse amounts of goods from Japan, China, Taiwan, and other eastern countries where they can be manufactured cheaply. This is somewhat good for us because it means we do not have to buy the goods at such a high price. The problem is, though, that we don’t export near as many goods as we import, and even many people in the United States don’t buy many American-made products, which decreases sales that much mores.

Social problems are also alike in the United States and Rome. The loyalty and civic pride that once unified Rome decayed towards the end of the empire. The situation is again similar in the United States. Not too many people sing "Proud to be an American" anymore. I think citizens in the United States have really started to take all their freedom and liberty for granted. They don’t think, Man, I’m glad I am allowed to speak my mind and not be put in jail for it. They think, Why don’t I get everything I want from the government? I think there is a large greed factor in this. People as a whole in the United States have gotten greedy and self-centered. This contributes to why they don’t have as much civic pride. They don’t think about what a great country they live in. Some only think about what is wrong with it. Also, in Rome people felt they no longer had a stake in the government, so they stopped caring if their ruler was good or bad, Roman or Germanic. In the United States a similarity to this can be shown to this by the fact that less than half of the United States population votes. This shows that many people are not too concerned with who our leader is, just as the people in Rome were no too concerned who their leader was.

As you can see, the problems in the United States bare grave similarities to those that caused the "fall of Rome." Even though it has been proven that governments go in cycles from good to bad, it does not make our present situation any better. We as United States citizens had just better hope that the government starts cycling around in the other direction, or else we all might be in immense trouble.