Roman cities were, of course, plumped up by the material inflows of Empire ... the receding of the Empire to the Eastern Med would naturally result in a reduced size.

Oddly enough, though, since the US imperial system was constructed in the aftermath of WWII, where the concern was not in gaining new wealth but in ensuring demand for existing productive capacity, including capacity to produce new plant and equipment, we would be enriched by the direct effect of losing the base network underpinning our imperial system.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.