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From Caligula and Louis XVI and beyond, history has shown the consequences of concentrated power. Image Credit: iStock (Caligula) and Johann Dréo from Chartres, France , CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Beyond the widespread contemporary belief that government spending is capable of solving economic ills through the creation of jobs, the construction of low-cost social housing, etc., the truth is that for whatever purpose, this will always be done through the same means: the State extracts rents from individuals (taxpayers who create value) through taxes in order to finance its spending. In some cases, as we will see throughout history, some of the spending has been more superfluous than others.
Here are a few of the most spendthrift rulers in history. Shi Huangdi. First Qin Emperor of China (221 – 210 B.C.)
Even though he ruled for less than ten years, he laid the foundations for one of the largest and longest-lived empires in history. During his reign he launched enormous construction projects, such as the Great Wall of China, considered the greatest engineering work in the world . He is now known for also having the largest funerary enclosure in the world, which consists of a mausoleum, 400 tombs for his officials and his army, which are the famous Terracotta Warriors . He also carried out reforms for the centralization of the empire, like the unification of the writing system that is maintained to this day. To this end, he had government edicts carved into the walls of sacred mountains throughout China, as a way of spreading the writing of the new characters among the people. He erected a huge bureaucracy, creating thirty-six prefectures, each presided over by a civilian official, a military official and an imperial inspector (government delegate). These commanderies were also subdivided into counties, governed […]
They’re Trying to Shut Us Down
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JD Rucker