I have also in the past noted the connection between the Roman emperor Commodus and the American President. Just to put you in the picture, Commodus is the emperor who fights Russell Crowe in Gladiator. He was the son of Marcus Aurelius who fought a succession of wars against barbarian invaders and when he died the wars continued but Commodus was made of different stuff. It is one of those hard to measure statistics but from the time of Commodus the standard of living in Europe is said to have dropped for the succeeding 1000 years and did not return to the level it was at in AD 187 until sometime in the sixteenth century. So today, there is this article, Obama and Commodus which begins:

The Roman Emperor Commodus turned away from a fight against barbarians along the frontier to take up more rewarding domestic pursuits. It didn’t work out so well for the Emperor.

It didn’t work out for anyone else either, aside from the barbarian invaders. And on Commodus and the ruin of the Empire, we have this:

Aurelius made his contribution to Rome’s failings. Staying with the passing of power from father to son, he had his son Commodus succeeed him, which began Rome on a path of ruin.

Whenever I teach the business cycle, I always point out that it is a cycle, that every downturn is followed by an upturn. But whenever I teach the cycle, I always have in the back of my mind the Roman empire under Commodus. Barbarians do win from time to time, and the Dark Age that follows can last a very long time.