You haven't tried playing as Lukas von Reuther yet?
I've been trying each leader out. I did my first game with random leaders and got Forge. My current one is with Lukas. So far, my economy has crashed due to expansion (around empowerment). When I played as the Syndicate, I could expand and expand seemingly as much as I wanted. More systems just meant more income. I'd guess that the trade routes pay for maintenance. The economy crash happened with the Forge and Astrotech as well, and I suspect it will for anyone but the Syndicate, because they have money bonuses.
Lukas seems interesting but geared to conquer, not build empires. No bad disadvantages, though. Just that like most of the others, conquest doesn't expand the economy very quickly. It takes time to turn around conquered systems.