The History of Red Tape. 2500 Years of Progress.

This History of Red Tape

2500 Years of Progress

 I like complaining.  I said it.  While unpopular to think so, most people do as well; admit it or not.  And it's proven to be good at relieving stress. 

I run a tour company in Italy and I often complain about how tough it is to do business with Romans and Italians.  Not to generalize, but it can be difficult working with people from a country that is so amazing.  It can be hard for anyone to focus on work when they have left over Pasta Amatriciana for lunch and its 11:35am.  This is why I say the tour guides are the only people in Italy to show up early or on-time.  They get to go to work at "vacation".  Bringing travelers through the most amazing sites Italy has to offer makes it easy to get out of bed. 

It can be tough to get things done when everyone is in a constant state of vacation.  I try not to complain too much... Things have been worse.  Lets talk about what it would be like to run a business starting in 509 B.C.

509 B.C. Republic! Republic! Republic!

The Roman State was originally founded as a monarchy by Romulus who was succeeded by 6 other kings.  Romulus was great and each successive king became less and less great.  Eventually they went less great to more terrible.  When the last Roman king was slain, Tarquinius Superbus, in 509 B.C. the Romans were so against monarchs, they swore never to let one rule again. 

Spoiler alert; they eventually broke their oath - sort of, but at this point there was no king/emperor in Rome and times were said to be prosperous.  The only people complaining was a group called the plebeians and most people were plebeian.  Plebeians were citizens, but commoners.  They could not hold office.  Patricians were the nobles and decedents of the first senators appointed by the first and greatest king; Romulus.  They held office and made the rules.  

Plebeians could still trade and accumulate wealth so no big deal right?   Patricians immediately started loaning money to poor Plebeians and leveraged them with high interest rates; keeping the poor very poor.  Maintaining a business and accumulating wealth was near impossible when you are leveraged with debt. 

Its their fault for borrowing money right?  After the civil war Patricians took up residence inside the city walls and Plebeians outside.  Whenever tribes would raid the Patricians were safe and the Plebeians were exposed.  Wrecked homes, loss of livestock and general pillaging forced them to borrow more and more money to stay alive.  That coupled with the fact that nobody from your social class was representing you in the local government made commerce difficult.  Any profits you took went straight to interest payments.  

Last Century B.C. - Civil War

Eventually plebeians got their rights!  Hooray!  Then in the last century B.C. Rome had grown tired of the Republic and a few power hungry people decided to fight over supreme power!  Over the course of 75 years there was about 50 years of civil war. 

I should explain how war worked in Roman times.  The Roman military was comprised of many different types of people.  The politicians who led the armies fought in hopes of gaining more power followed by riches.  Everyone else was in it just for the riches.  Where did the riches come from?  Not government funding, but spoils of war. 

The military was paid in spoils at the end of the war.  During the war they would receive some spoils, but they were mostly kept content with the prospect of raping the enemies women (or men in many cases). 

The problem with a civil war, which was happening in the period we are speaking about, is that Romans were fighting Romans.  Military victories ended in the field with virtually no pillaging to follow.  This was very concerning for the legionaries.  When it came time for them to retire from a long military career they were hoping to inherit land and money, but civil war does not yield new land nor money.  It only brings more power to the politicians leading the armies.  

What does this have to do with your last century B.C. small business?  Say you were a farmer in the Roman countryside at the time.  You worked the fields, had a few laborers and managed to scrape together a decent living.  Then Marcus Agrippa arrives at your door and says, "Good morning - you're out and Sgt. Spartacus is in."  

Military leaders, who were also politicians, did not conquer new lands, but fought people on existing lands.  Their solution to pay legionaries was to kick Romans off their land at random and provide it to the military.   For them it was an easy choice:

A) Don't fulfill promises to military and have a bunch of angry legionaries?

B) Fulfill promises to military and have a bunch of angry farmers?  

No brainer, but bad for your small business. 

27 B.C. to 453 A.D. - Imperial State

When Augustus became "Caesar" of Rome the city became an imperial state.  This meant that an emperor ruled the city for the first time in almost 500 years. Technically it was an oligarchy, but its difficult to maintain checks and balances when emperors were naming themselves "gods" and throwing their opposition off a rock positioned high above Rome on the Capitoline Hill.  

There are some obvious downsides to opening a business in Rome during these times.  Tiberius & Caligula were considered amongst the worst Roman Emperors in history.  Life during their reigns would have been turbulent to say the least.  

Tiberius had a severe case of social anxiety.  He thought everyone was against him. He would bring treason charges against anyone he suspected of double crossing him and be judge and juror of the trial.  If you were on his list your business might survive, but you most certainly would not. 

Lets say you decided to move out of the Roman Empire to escape the unrest of the capital.  Jerusalem seemed like a quaint town.  Not in 70 & 71 A.D. when Titus arrived to level the city and enslave it's people.  At that point maybe you would move your family to Dacia.  During Trajan's rule in the early 2nd century A.D. many cities were completely burnt to the ground during conquest.  No civil peace agreements.  Simply destruction. 

I described the Roman period like this.  If you could become successful and stay quiet you had a chance.  To be successful and take a run for power was the tricky part.  Maybe you achieved power, but 9 times out of 10 it was not permanent.  A regime change could alter your life over night. 

6th century to 11th century (The Original Walking Dead)

After the fall of the Roman Empire life was bleak.  This time is commonly referred to as the middles ages or dark ages.  My business partner Brandon Shaw who is also a tour guide in Rome, Italy often compares life between the 6th and 11th century to the TV series 'The Walking Dead' without the zombies.  

Society falls to such recesses that the best business to be in was being a bandit.  Encountering someone you were unfamiliar with posed a serious risk in the open country.  Chances were you were either going to rob and kill that person or they were going to rob and kill you.  Very similar to how  The Walking Dead has evolved throughout the seasons.  

During this period you wouldn't even consider starting an enterprise.  Just about any progress that had been made by the Romans and the Greeks had been destroyed during the wars between Christianity and Paganism (mostly destroyed by Christians).  Imagine trying to build a business and not even having access to the most basic educational material as most of the books were destroyed. 

13th - 14th Century A.D. Middle East

The turn of the millennia was still pretty bad for Europe, so lets move over to the middle east.  Baghdad was the cultural and economic capital of the area.  The society was thriving and it could easily be compared to a San Francisco or Paris of today.  Great thinkers, artists and poets were all living there. 

Great place to start a business!  Maybe set up a coffee shop in the middle of town and call it StarBox.  Sell frappuccinos and cafe with lemon loaf.  Life is good!  Enter the Mongols. 

Quick history lesson.  Genghis Kahn had ruled over most of the Far East until his death in 1227.  M?ngke Kahn was the third successor of Genghis and felt it important to extend the empire to the middle east.  The Kahn forces from the Mongolian Steppe were particularly fierce fighters.  They could shoot a bow with incredible accuracy from horseback which was a massive asset during war times.  Their homeland, the Mongolian (or Eurasian) Steppe, was a desolate land with almost nothing to harvest.  Accuracy with a bow was quintessential for survival. 

These fighters who came on horses shooting bows would resemble aliens in todays world.  They were so different and had mastered not only horseback archery, but siege weapons during conquests in China.  

Part of the reason Genghis and future Kahns (M?ngke in this case) were so successful is due to how they instilled fear upon their enemies and troops alike.  Riders rode in small squads that made up larger units and eventually armies.  They had to stick together.  If one rider broke off or retreated without command the entire squad would be killed by their commanding officers.  

The same ruthlessness was offered to their enemies.  If you surrender peacefully, you have a chance of living, although not completely guaranteed.  If you fight back and lost you were going to 100% be killed.  As they conquered rumor spread about their superiority on the battle field and how ruthless they were.  

They came to Baghdad, took the city in 12 days, destroyed it and everyone inside it.  The general, Hulago, killed over 3000 aristocrats that tried to surrender.  Mongols had a very strict strategy.  Hand over your city peacefully or everyone dies.  The moment Baghdad resisted it was victory or death.  

After taking this thriving city rumored to have a population of over a million people, the Mongols destroyed it and killed everyone they found.  Not good for business at all. 

14th Century Sicily

Things started to point in the right direction in the 14th century at the cusp of the Renaissance!  Then one day a boat arrived on the docks of Catania (Sicily) and almost everyone on board was dead.  

This boat brought the black plague which killed an estimated one-third of Europe.  Imagine what happens to an already suffering economy when 1/3 of all people die.  If you survived, sales would have been down by at least 33.3%.  

15th century to 18th century Europe & USA

Florence started a free thinking revolution in the 15th century called the Renaissance or "Rebirth".  For the longest time people didn't think about anything other than their next meal.  During the renaissance, after a thousand years, people started questioning things and creating once again.  Not everyone though - only people that were lucky enough to be selected by the Medici family.  Mostly everyone else was still poor looking for their next meal. 

In 1440 the printing press was invented.  This is considered the single most important invention of the period and maybe the most important invention in world civilization.  While this would spread education and bring us into a more 'enlightened' era, for the time being it would just start revolutions.  The bible was printed in English, people interpreted for themselves, decided they could speak to god directly and entire towns were left in ruins.  

Prior to this the only way to interpret the word of god was to learn latin.  Most people were not able to do that so they heard it from a priest.  Martin Luther translated the text and printed it in English.  Many of his supporters even thought this was a bad idea.  In the long-run it was obviously beneficial, but in the short-term things went south.  Knowledge is power and now every had it.  Interpretation of god's own words can disrupt the status quo.  Unless your business was printing bibles, you were in for some rocky years. 

10 century to 19th century United Kingdom of Britain

The class system existed in the UK until the very early 20th century.  It sounds ludicrous, but nobility throughout Europe still exists today!  I lived next to nobles in Rome and they rarely left they're 'compound' to mix with common folk.  The 18th century left little room for moving up in society if you were poor.  Just like Roman times 2400 years prior, if you were born of one class you could not move into another class.  Even today there was plenty of  concerned press regarding  Prince William marrying a woman who wasn't from noble blood!  

If you are not familiar with the class system it is pretty self explanatory.  Everyone was in a class and that is the class you stayed in.  Nobles were the only people able to own land, the main source of income were crops and livestock, and if you were a serf you worked that land in exchange for... well close to nothing.  This is the equivalent of microeconomic monopoly.  There would be a land owner who controlled commerce on his land and everyone on it.  The class system was a sort of politically correct slavery.  You weren't a slave to the land owner, but there was nowhere else for you to go and nothing else for you to do.  So you were a slave.

In this system there was no "starting" a business.  It was handed to you or you were out of luck.   

Present Day

As our world economies grow the standard of living should grow for as many people as possible.  Hopefully it creates more opportunity for education and a less hostile world.  I write this article to put things in perspectives.  It would be difficult to even compare the modern worlds standards to that of a few hundred years ago.  

Are there people world-wide living below American-European standards.  Most definitely.  Never before has there been so many charitable organizations trying to raise the bar for 3rd world standards of living.  There is still corruption, but Billionaires like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have pledged a majority of their worth to charitable organizations when they leave this world.  Billions of dollars not handed down to their off-spring, but the world.  

Its a great time to be alive and hard to argue the opportunity that exists.  While our standards of living are higher than others, many countries have increased their standards of living as well.  Not to mention with the digital progress we made everyone has a better chance; even if the chips are stacked against some.