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#166 - Freddie New - How Governments Destroy Money and Empires (The Lessons From Rome)

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Apr 16, 2026

Guest

Freddie New

Freddie New, a classics scholar who maps Rome's monetary collapse onto modern fiat systems. He traces how slow currency debasement erodes empires, parallels Roman denarius decline with the pound, and explores Diocletian and Constantine’s monetary fixes. He also links welfare, military overstretch, and modern elites’ gains from inflation, and considers Bitcoin and AI as possible responses.

01:12:29

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insights

INSIGHT

Money Determines Who Holds Power

Money underpins who gains power in complex societies, so currency collapse reshapes political outcomes.
Freddie New maps the pound's 95% century loss to Rome's denarius falling to 3% by Diocletian as a direct parallel.

insights

INSIGHT

Payments Create Political Dependency

Armies (then) and state dependents (now) force governments into continual monetary dilution to keep them loyal.
Freddie explains soldiers demanded higher pay as silver was debased, mirroring modern welfare-dependent voting blocs.

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INSIGHT

Soft Default Is The Politician's Choice

Governments prefer a soft default via inflation rather than hard default or jubilee to preserve credit access.
Freddie: inflate nominal debt so real value falls slowly, avoiding market exclusion but eroding savers' purchasing power.

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Comparing Rome and Modern Britain

01:19 • 1min

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Why Money Drives Empire Collapse

02:37 • 1min

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From Coin Clipping to Systemic Debasement

03:40 • 2min

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Modern Money Printing Parallels

05:58 • 1min

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Who Benefits from Inflation

07:02 • 4min

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Visualizing Roman Denarius Collapse

11:25 • 2min

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The Debt Treadmill and Soft Default

13:35 • 6min

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Grift Economy and Social Incentives

19:08 • 4min

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The Hollowing Out of Society

23:06 • 3min

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Infrastructure, Roads, and Decline Signals

26:12 • 5min

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Roman Governance and the Social Contract

31:33 • 4min

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Diocletian's Reforms and Price Controls

Welfare Dependents as Modern Army Analogy

41:25 • 6min

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Political Pain, Intergenerational Responsibility

47:14 • 2min

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Cincinnatus, Caesar, and Leadership Choices

49:10 • 5min

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Splitting Empires and Regional Outcomes

54:40 • 3min

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Constantine's Solidus: A Hard Money Reset

57:28 • 2min

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Bitcoin, Hard Money, and Opting Out

59:21 • 6min

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AI Agents, Lightning, and Economic Change

01:05:18 • 5min

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AI, Governance, and Future Power

• Mentioned in 62 episodes

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Edward Gibbon

This magisterial history, written by Edward Gibbon, covers the peak of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity, the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the rise and fall of various other empires and civilizations up to the fall of Byzantium in 1453. Gibbon's work is renowned for its thorough scholarship, diverse sources, and engaging prose. He argues that the Roman Empire succumbed to barbarian invasions partly due to the gradual loss of civic virtue among its citizens and critiques the role of Christianity in the empire's decline. The work was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789 and has remained a seminal work in historical literature despite some criticisms from modern scholars.

#824

• Mentioned in 45 episodes

The Blind Watchmaker

Richard Dawkins

In *The Blind Watchmaker*, Richard Dawkins presents a comprehensive explanation of the theory of evolution through natural selection. He argues against the creationist metaphor of the skilled watchmaker by introducing the concept of a 'blind watchmaker,' where natural selection acts without foresight or purpose. Dawkins uses examples such as the evolution of the eye and computer simulations to illustrate how complexity can arise from simple organisms through cumulative selection. The book also addresses common criticisms of evolution and argues against the existence of a divine creator, emphasizing that the Darwinian world-view is the only known theory that could explain the mystery of our existence.

#2075

• Mentioned in 23 episodes

When Money Dies

Adam Fergusson

Freddie New studied the classics and has spent years obsessing over one question: how does a superpower destroy itself? The answer, he argues, is always the same - it starts with the money.

In this conversation we map the fall of Rome directly onto the West today. The Roman denarius lost 97% of its purchasing power over 150 years. The British pound has lost 95% of its in the last century alone. The parallels don't stop there - military overstretch, a dependent population kept loyal by the state, leaders who can't stop the printing even when they know it's killing them. Rome couldn't stop. We can't either.

Freddie has read all 1.5 million words of Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In this conversation he explains what that teaches us about where we are right now - and whether there is a way out.

In this episode:

•⁠ ⁠How Rome debased the denarius from 100% silver to 3% over 300 years

•⁠ ⁠Why currency debasement always starts slowly and why it can never be stopped

•⁠ ⁠The eerie similarity between Rome's military dependence and modern welfare states

•⁠ ⁠What Diocletian's price controls tell us about every government's response to inflation

•⁠ ⁠Why Constantine's hard money reset saved the empire for another generation

•⁠ ⁠What hard money offers that fiat never can

•⁠ ⁠Whether the West can course correct or whether collapse is now inevitable

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 - Currency Collapse Starts

00:01:17 - Rome vs Britain

00:05:00 - How Debasement Spreads

00:09:52 - The Soft Default

00:18:02 - The Grift Economy

00:22:18 - The Hollowing Out

00:30:19 - How Rome Worked

00:35:00 - Why Collapse Happens

00:39:08 - Welfare And Power

00:46:28 - War Footing Debate

00:52:33 - Are We In Decline?

00:57:54 - Constantine Solution

01:05:22 - AI And Power Shift

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CONTACT PETE

› Website – http://petermccormack.com

› Feedback – https://www.petermccormack.com/contact

› Email – me@petermccormack.com

› Instagram – /mccormack555

› X/Twitter – https://x.com/petermccormack/

CONNECT WITH FREDDIE NEW

› Twitter – https://x.com/freddienew

› Website – https://bitcoinpolicy.uk/