151 - The Housing Crisis That Broke Ancient Rome (Has Returned)

America modeled itself after Rome, and now we’re driving off the same cliff. It all has to do with housing and property. 

Joe has a housing story unlike any we’ve covered before. In the first half of this episode we talk about ancient Rome’s “Latifundia” or “Great Estates” and explore why Pliney the Elder blamed the destruction of Rome on senators and merchants who gobbled up all the land, turning an empire of “free peasants” or middle-class into starving renters. Late-stage Rome even had a socialist safety net that sounds eerily familiar. For workers living in the city who couldn’t afford rent, a government assistance program was started in Rome, called the Grain Dole.

After a brief primer on Roman history, we get to the meat of our episode today: the investment companies who are buying up all the starter homes in America. These aren’t the rental prope