"on the disparity between these two types of men, the fate of all subsequent civilization has hinged"

Happy birthday, Mom.

Brooks Adams, The Law of Civilization and Decay. "Full book available" at Google Books. 

"The Law of Civilization and Decay is a book written by Brooks Adams in 1895. His intention was to prove that the rise and fall of civilizations follows a definite cycle of centralization and decay..."

 - Wikipedia

 
From the chapter on Rome:

Chapter 1: The Romans

When the Romans first emerged from the mist of fable, they were already a race of land-owners who held their property in severalty, and, as the right of alienation was established, the formation of relatively large estates had begun. The ordinary family, however, held perhaps twelve acres, and, as the land was arable, and the staple grain, it supported a dense rural population...

The Latins had little economic versatility; they lacked the instinct of the Greeks for commerce, or of the Syrians and Hindoos for manufactures. They were essentially land-owners, and, when endowed with the acquisitive faculty, usurers. The latter early developed into a distinct species, at once more subtle of intellect and more tenacious of life than the farmers, and on the disparity between these two types of men, the fate of all subsequent civilization has hinged. At a remote antiquity Roman society divided into creditors and debtors; as it consolidated, the power of the former increased, thus intensifying the pressure on the weak, until, when centralization culminated under the Caesars, reproduction slackened, disintegration set in, and, after some centuries of decline, the Middle Ages began.

It could have been written today, but it wasn't. It could be written about us, and one day, the way things are going, it will be.

In the book's Preface, Adams writes:

In offering to the public a second edition of The Law of Civilization and Decay I take the opportunity to say emphatically that such value as the essay may have lies in its freedom from any preconceived bias. All theories contained in the book, whether religious or economic, are the effect, and not the cause, of the way in which the facts unfolded themselves. I have been passive.

I like that. And I know just what Adams means; I do economics the same way: Look at the data a thousand times, until it starts to tell a story; then look at the data even more, to see how that story stands up. My task is to do my best to understand what the economy is telling me: to understand what it is telling me. Perhaps this is why I say that to solve problems like unemployment, problems that trouble people, we must correct the imbalances that trouble the economy. It's not personification for effect. It is the way the economic system works.