This description of the years preceeding the fall of Rome reminds me a lot of the culture of the United States these days. The pride, hard work, humility and dedication of generation's past seems gone. We watch shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars and don't want to be bothered by real issues, real concerns, real challenges. We drive SUVs that eat up tremendous amounts of gas, despite knowing the political and environmental side effects of doing so. And our smartest go straight to wall street to manage hedge funds that get in and out of stocks with indifference...without any output or benefit to the world other than to squeeze money out of the system (more money that actually exists it turns out). I hope that we are somehow strong and honest enough to recognize the errors of our ways and get so that we can someday get back to better days.

Things like this have been circulating for forty years or more - my father brought home a similar comparison that was being passed around at his workplace.

All Empires fall. That which makes them, breaks them.

See wikipedia's article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_the_Roman_Empire for a list of (better) theories for the fall of Rome.

Actually the lead in Rome's drinking water had a significant role in the downfall.

Today the lead is the the arses of Americans who mostly sit on their sofas and watch the programs you named. I am proud to say I have never heard of those programs. Only TV I watch is Fox News and a few vintage John Wayne movies.

Bread and circus.

Yes, I would call Fox a circus.

Bread and circus.

yep!

I see why you see a comparison, but I think are a several mitigating factors:
-Empiral Rome was not a Republic, but a autocracy. It was difficult for any new "great men" to rise to the top, as had happened during the Republic. In the U.S., our democracy I think has helped us find a new leader who will do a lot better than our previous one.
-The Romans were always talking about how less virtuous the current generation was compared to ones before. See Tacitus. Yet even as they did say this, Rome maintained it dominance for years.
-We still have a citizen army. This is a big deal. The reason the Republic fell was that the army became loyal to the generals rather than to the Republic. See Sula, Caesar, etc.

Fascinating discussion. I like the vice vs. virtue label but, as Nobel directs us, there were many convergences.