Hi Eden
One can hardly claim that the Babylonian empire was the "golden standard" or the "height of glory" of all the world powers that ever existed since antiquity until our days
I agree with that, but on the other hand would you say that human rulership has been steadily improving over the last 2500 years, or steadily declining? And here I am talking from a theocratic point of view only. (Not a JW view, and not a secular point of view.)
Now that doesn't mean that the decline has to be linear. There have been better and worse rulers in each worldly governmental power. None would be completely effective and some would be downright horrible. But if you drew the whole thing out, like you might graph a share price now, it might be a line with peaks and troughs, but always on the decline. But a dream that showed a stock market x-y graph wouldn't really fit well in the Hebrew/Aramaic scriptures, so instead a dream that simply shows base materials of diminishing value is understandable to any audience.
That's the way I see it. But I remain open to persuasion.
FG