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Essay: Business is more powerful than military might. All REAL Americans know this!

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Question: Is business more powerful than military might?

Why business is more powerful than military might

Consider:

America, the most powerful country in the world. It's army of talented business people is more powerful than its military

"The business of America is business." - Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge famously said "The business of America is business." America's greater strength is not its military might, it's greater strength is its army of business people and its natural resources.

Behold, the strength of America's business people in the essays below:

Military might is built on economic might - not vice versa

John Mearsheimer, is an American political scientist and international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of international relations and teaches at the University of Chicago.

In his 2023 interview with the South China Morning Post, Professor John Joseph Mearsheimer stated about U.S. relations with China and Russia:

“ The Americans have a vested interest in pivoting full force to East Asia, to contain China. The Americans view China as a more serious threat than Russia. It’s very important to understand that China is a peer competitor to the United States. China is a rising great power and is a threat to the US in ways that Russia is not. So the Americans have a vested interest in not getting bogged down in a war in eastern Europe, more specifically in Ukraine.

Furthermore, they have a vested interest in doing everything they can to make sure that Russia and China are not close allies. What happens as a result of the Ukraine war is that it’s almost impossible for the US to fully pivot in Asia.[1]

”

In his March 2022 interview with The New Yorker, Mearsheimer indicated:

“ I’m talking about the raw-power potential of Russia—the amount of economic might it has. Military might is built on economic might. You need an economic foundation to build a really powerful military. To go out and conquer countries like Ukraine and the Baltic states and to re-create the former Soviet Union or re-create the former Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe would require a massive army, and that would require an economic foundation that contemporary Russia does not come close to having. There is no reason to fear that Russia is going to be a regional hegemony in Europe. Russia is not a serious threat to the United States. We do face a serious threat in the international system. We face a peer competitor. And that’s China. Our policy in Eastern Europe is undermining our ability to deal with the most dangerous threat that we face today.[2] ”

In 2016, Mearsheimer said: "Russia was a declining great power."[3]

Apple's market cap is larger than all but 6 of world's top economies

Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple Inc.

A majority of the 100 most valuable brands were based in the United States, with a combined value of $3.2 trillion

In 2024, a majority of the 100 most valuable brands were based in the United States, with a combined value of $3.2 trillion.[4]

Fourth generation warfare is the bane of countries than "win" costly wars. Post-war insurgencies and terrorism are real and significant problems

Fourth-generation warfare (4GW) is a conflict in which there is a blurring of the separation between war and politics and combatants/civilians. 4GW wars are more decentralized in terms of their command and control.

The term fourth-generation warfare was initially used in 1980 by a team of United States analysts, including the author William S. Lind, to describe warfare's return to a decentralized expression of conflict.[5]

Journal articles

Related articles

Winning a war vs. winning the peace. There is a difference. Peace usually last longer than wars so it's essential to win the peace. Winning the peace requires business people

A nation can lose a war or proxy war, yet win the peace. At the present time, the USA has better relations with Vietnam than China - despite the Vietnam War. Vietnam, one of the countries with the most favorable public opinion regarding the U.S., is the only communist country to have such a favorable view.[6]

In September 2023, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam. Hosted by the Secretary-General of the Communist Party, Vietnam’s most senior official, the two countries signed a comprehensive strategic partnership. This marks the latest stage in an extraordinary turnaround in relations between two countries that once fought a bitter and brutal war. But how did it develop? And what lies behind this change? See: VIETNAM | America's New Ally?.

So what does this "comprehensive strategic partnership" mainly entail? It mainly consists of business and economic interests of course.

Communist Vietmanese soldiers laying a wreath at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Soldiers who engage in goose stepping drum up quite a thirst. No doubt they will quench it with a Coca Cola! USA! USA! USA!

The talent war in our technological age where innovation is important. Company recruiters are more powerful than military recruiters

See also: Top 12 reasons why people are flocking to the USA and leaving the corrupt, authoritarian countries of China and Russia and Size of a working age population in a country and its correlation with national GNP in advanced economies. The ability of the United States to attract some of the best and brightest workers in the world

The ability of the United State to attract some of the best and brightest workers in the world:

See also: Essay: Does the United States need more immigration?

In the modern world, immigration policies are a part of great power competition.[7] For example, many Jewish scientists who fled Nazi Germany worked on the Manhattan Project.[8]

The Baltimore Sun's article Many of America's best and brightest are immigrants indicates:

“ Of the six Nobel Prize winners in America in 2016, all six were immigrants. Indeed, more than one-third of U.S. Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, medicine, and physics have been immigrants. Since 1960, 23 immigrants won Nobel Prizes in chemistry, 20 in medicine and 21 in physics. These are amazing statistics that should not be ignored.

Clearly, immigration and public education are what make America great. Most people coming to this country cannot afford to send their children to private schools. To be sure, most immigrants come here not only to flee oppression but also for the free and quality education our public schools have long provided.[9]

”

The article Attracting (and Keeping) the Best and the Brightest states: "We can clearly see the benefits of skilled immigration in cities such as Pittsburgh, which have transformed their declining steel economies to those driven primarily by research and development (R&D) as well as entrepreneurship in the fields of artificial intelligence and the life sciences. International students make up approximately 50% of the Carnegie Mellon University students seeking to launch a startup company in Pittsburgh... Just a decade ago, the economist William R. Kerr documented that between 2000 and 2010 more international inventors immigrated to the United States than to the rest of the world combined."[10]

In addition, the article Attracting (and Keeping) the Best and the Brightest points out the recently the United States has "made an important change by reestablishing the nascent International Entrepreneur Rule for prospective founders who can secure at least $250,000 in investment from a qualified US investor. The program allows a renewable two-and-a-half-year period for entrepreneurs to try building a business in the United States, with the ultimate goal being permanent residence via a transition to a Green Card." [11]

Manjari Chatterjee Miller notes: "The history of Indian immigration to the United States dates back to the nineteenth century. Up until World War II, Indian immigrants were mostly low-skilled migrant workers. This pattern changed by the mid-twentieth century, when Indians flocked to the United States to study or work white-collar jobs. In India, this phenomenon was often dubbed the “brain drain,” as India’s best and brightest left to settle in the United States. Today, Indians constitute the second-largest immigrant group in the United States after Mexicans, and the highest-earning ethnic group in the country."[12]

In 2023, The South China Morning Post's article China’s millionaires keep leaving, but now outflows may be ‘more damaging than usual’ states:

“ Advisory firm Henley & Partners estimates that mainland China will lose 13,500 high-net-worth individuals – those with investable wealth totalling more than US$1 million – followed by India’s 6,500. The UK, in third, will lose 3,200 such individuals, predicts the London-based investment migration consultancy.

In 2022, China lost 10,800 high-net-worth individuals, followed by Russia’s 8,500 and India’s 7,500, according to data in the “Henley Private Wealth Migration Report 2023” released on Tuesday...

The US’ start-up and employment visa programmes, including “national interest waivers” (NIWs) under the green-card application process, are also popular among Chinese tech, medical and academic professionals and researchers, especially those impacted by the downturn in China’s tech sector, Liu said. “They pay attention to opportunities for skilled immigration from Singapore and the United States,” Liu explained...[13]

”

Rapid development of new forms of modern technology and its effect on the world and its societies

See also: Change management and Future Shock and United States and innovation

The Amazon description of the book The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society:

“ A bold exploration and call-to-arms over the widening gap between AI, automation, and big data—and our ability to deal with its effects

We are living in the first exponential age.

High-tech innovations are created at dazzling speeds; technological forces we barely understand remake our homes and workplaces; centuries-old tenets of politics and economics are upturned by new technologies. It all points to a world that is getting faster at a dizzying pace.

Azeem Azhar, renowned technology analyst and host of the Exponential View podcast, offers a revelatory new model for understanding how technology is evolving so fast, and why it fundamentally alters the world. He roots his analysis in the idea of an “exponential gap” in which technological developments rapidly outpace our society’s ability to catch up. Azhar shows that this divide explains many problems of our time—from political polarization to ballooning inequality to unchecked corporate power. With stunning clarity of vision, he delves into how the exponential gap is a near-inevitable consequence of the rise of AI, automation, and other exponential technologies, like renewable energy, 3D printing, and synthetic biology, which loom over the horizon.

And he offers a set of policy solutions that can prevent the growing exponential gap from fragmenting, weakening, or even destroying our societies. The result is a wholly new way to think about technology, one that will transform our understanding of the economy, politics, and the future.[14]

”

Wars kill a nation's citizens. Size of a working age population in a country and its correlation with national GNP in advanced economies


“One of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and rapidly declining birthrate.” - the American businessman Elon Musk[15]


“One of the biggest risks to civilization is the low birth rate and rapidly declining birthrate.” - Elon Musk[16]

"There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who believe the defining challenge of the 21st century will be climate change, and those who know that it will be the birth dearth, the population bust, the old age of the world." - Ross Douthat, token conservative at the New York Times.[17]

Wars are costly in terms of a country's human capital. And many countries have below replacement fertility levels in their nation. See: Essay: The coming demographic winter

Examples of excellent articles/documentaries/videos on an impending demographic winter in the world:

In advanced economies, there is a high correlation between the size of a country's working-age population and its national gross national product (GNP)

In advanced economies, there is a high correlation between the size of a country's working-age population and its national gross national product (GNP).[18]

The abstract for the 2023 academic paper The Wealth of Working Nations published by Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania by Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, Gustavo Ventura, and Wen Yao indicates:

“ Due to population aging, GDP growth per capita and GDP growth per working-age adult have become quite different among many advanced economies over the last several decades. Countries whose GDP growth per capita performance has been lackluster, like Japan, have done surprisingly well in terms of GDP growth per working-age adult. Indeed, from 1998 to 2019, Japan has grown slightly faster than the U.S. in terms of per working-age adult: an accumulated 31.9% vs. 29.5%. Furthermore, many advanced economies appear to be on parallel balanced growth trajectories in terms of working-age adults despite important differences in levels. Motivated by this observation, we calibrate a standard neoclassical growth model in which the growth of the working-age adult population varies in line with the data for each economy. Despite the underlying demographic differences, the calibrated model tracks output per working-age adult in most economies of our sample. Our results imply that the growth behavior of mature, aging economies is not puzzling from a theoretical perspective.[19] ”
National GDP levels and working age levels and national GDP.jpg
National GDP levels and working age levels and national GDP 2.jpg
National GDP levels and working age levels and national GDP 3.jpg

Business is more powerful than military might. Graphs don't lie!


"The United States and China are undoubtedly the two most powerful countries, but at least one more country must be roughly in their league for multipolarity to exist. This is where claims of multipolarity fall apart. Every country that could plausibly rank third—France, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom—is in no way a rough peer of the United States or China." -The Myth of Multipolarity, American Power’s Staying Power, Foreign Affairs, 2023

However, a number of leading geopolitical analysts are skeptical about China remaining a global power as it faces a number of serious intractable problems (See: Skepticism about China remaining a global power).

I do agree with Donald Trump that America should not get into "endless wars" that do not serve America's vital interests.[20] I also agree with Trump's policy of not using the American military to "solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands".[21]
For more information, please see: Good Economic News Keeps Putting US Ahead in Cold War II, Bloomberg New, 2024
U.S. dollar to Chinese yuan exchange rate on April 19, 2024.

See also:

*Will the U.S. Dollar Be Dethroned? by Charles Schwabb, April 2023

*What It Would Take for the U.S. Dollar to Collapse, Investopedia, 2024
Chart of the growth of U.S. GNP from January 1947 to January 2023.

A great strength of the United States is its very consistent growth of its GNP over decades and its quick recovery the few times its GNP has gone down.[22]

In addition, research indicates that in the long-term, non-authoritarian countries are more likely to experience greater economic growth. See: Time Under Authoritarian Rule and Economic Growth, CORI Working Paper No. 2007-02

For more information on this topic, please see:

*Should You Be Bullish on America?

Why is America so rich?

*Size of a working age population in a country and its correlation with national GNP in advanced economies. The ability of the United States to attract some of the best and brightest workers in the world

*Slow and steady growth over the long term via capitalism and the rule of law versus short-sighted authoritarian economic growth that is costly to the long term economy
Investopedia says about the importance of labor productivity to an economy, "Labor productivity is largely driven by investment in capital, technological progress, and human capital development. Labor productivity is directly linked to improved standards of living in the form of higher consumption."[23]

According to Yahoo Finance: "According to Yahoo Finance: "Efficiency in production, also coined as productivity, is one of the major driving forces behind economic resilience in a country... The United States has one of the strongest economies in the world. The country hosts some of the largest companies in the world, which contributes to the high GDP per capita in the country."[24]

As can be seen in the map above, the USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world and it is significantly higher than both China and Russia.[25]

For more information, please see: The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia|The USA has one of the highest labor productivity rates in the world - significantly higher than both China and Russia
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore are the world’s most innovative economies in 2023, according to WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), as a group of middle-income economies have emerged over the past decade as the fastest climbers of the ranking.[26][27][28]
The USA was among the most 10 most diverse economies in 2018 according to the Word Atlas website.[29]

Read the articles: The Importance Of A Diversified Economy and Resilient, stable, sustainable: The benefits of economic diversification
In August of 2023, the USA was outproducing Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil production.[30]. The best is yet to come![31][32]

The U.S. Energy Information System reported in 2023: "Strong continuing international demand for petroleum and other liquids will sustain U.S. production above 2022 levels through 2050, according to most of the cases we examined in our Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (AEO2023). We project that the United States will continue to be an integral part of global oil markets and a significant source of supply in these cases, as increased exports of finished products support U.S. production."[33]

For more information, please see: The USA is outproducing Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil production. The best is yet to come
China is no longer set to eclipse the US as the world’s biggest economy soon, and it may never consistently pull ahead to claim the top spot as the nation’s confidence slump becomes more entrenched.

That’s according to Bloomberg Economics, which now forecasts it will take until the mid-2040s for China’s gross domestic product to exceed that of the US — and even then, it will happen by “only a small margin” before “falling back behind.”

Before the pandemic, they expected China to take and hold pole position as early as the start of next decade.[34]

See: Skepticism about China remaining a global power
Russian GNP 1991 to August 2023.

Estimates of Russian GNP 1991 to August 2023 measured in US fiat dollars; exchange rates between the dollar and the ruble ended in March 2022 when the ruble became a gold-backed currency.

Recently, the Russian ruble has seen a big decline:

*Russia’s War-Torn Economy Hits Its Speed Limit: Economists see this week’s currency gyrations not as the beginning of a financial crisis but rather as a symptom of the Kremlin’s sclerotic economic prospects, Wall Street Journal, August 2023

*The Russian ruble hit a 16-month low this week and is one of the worst performing currencies in 2023, August, 2023

*Russia Cranks Interest Rates to 12% in Emergency Move Supporting Ruble, Barron's, August 2023

*5 stats show how Russia's economy is declining, Business Insider, 2023

Russia is dying out. The war in Ukraine is making Russia's demographic crisis even worse

See: Russia is dying out. The war in Ukraine is making Russia's demographic crisis even worse

Russian demography has long been an existential issue to Vladimir Putin. In 2021, he declared “saving the people of Russia is our top national priority".[35]

Vladimir Putin's foolish decision to launch an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

References

  1. ↑ The West needs to prepare for ‘ugly’ Russian victory in Ukraine, which will reward China, leading US political scientist warns, South China Morning Post
  2. ↑ Why John Mearsheimer Blames the U.S. for the Crisis in Ukraine, The New Yorker, March 2022
  3. ↑ Why is Ukraine the West's Fault? Featuring John Mearsheimer
  4. ↑ The 100 Top Brands in the World, Visual Capitalist
  5. ↑ Fourth generation warfare, The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
  6. ↑ Global image of countries. US Global Image, Pew Research
  7. ↑ Battling for the best and brightest: immigration, great power rivalry, and the history of talent importation
  8. ↑ 'Oppenheimer': How Jewish refugees beat the Nazis to the atomic bomb - opinion, Jerusalem Post, 2023
  9. ↑ Many of America's best and brightest are immigrants, Baltimore Sun, 2017
  10. ↑ Attracting (and Keeping) the Best and the Brightest
  11. ↑ Attracting (and Keeping) the Best and the Brightest
  12. ↑ To Compete With China, the United States Needs to Fix Immigration, 2023
  13. ↑ China’s millionaires keep leaving, but now outflows may be ‘more damaging than usual’, The South China Morning Post, 2023
  14. ↑ [https://www.amazon.com/Exponential-Age-Accelerating-Technology-Transforming/dp/1635769094 The Exponential Age: How Accelerating Technology is Transforming Business, Politics and Society
  15. ↑ Demographic winter: The plague of the century, Washington Times, 2021
  16. ↑ Demographic winter: The plague of the century, Washington Times, 2021
  17. ↑ Which is more frightening: global warming or demographic winter? by LOUIS T. MARCH
  18. ↑ The Wealth of Working Nations by Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, Gustavo Ventura, and Wen Yao, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 2023
  19. ↑ The Wealth of Working Nations by Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde, Gustavo Ventura, and Wen Yao, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, 2023
  20. ↑ Trump to West Point grads: 'We are ending the era of endless wars', Reuters, June 13, 2022
  21. ↑ Trump to West Point grads: 'We are ending the era of endless wars', Reuters, June 13, 2022
  22. ↑ Should You Be Bullish on America?
  23. ↑ Labor Productivity: What It Is, How to Calculate & Improve It, Investopedia
  24. ↑ 25 Most Productive Countries Per Capita, Yahoo Finance
  25. ↑ Most Productive Countries 2024
  26. ↑ The U.S. Is (Again) Among the World's Top Innovators, U.S. News and World Report, 2023
  27. ↑ Global Innovation Index 2023: Switzerland, Sweden and the U.S. lead the Global Innovation Ranking; Innovation Robust but Startup Funding Increasingly Uncertain
  28. ↑ World's Most Innovative Countries, Statista website, 2023
  29. ↑ Countries With The Most Diverse Economies
  30. ↑ US Oil Production Hits Records
  31. ↑ Donald Trump promises to drill for oil, close southern border on first day as president
  32. ↑ The Oil And Gas Workers’ Association Endorses Trump For 2024 Vote
  33. ↑ U.S. production of petroleum and other liquids to be driven by international demand
  34. ↑ China Slowdown Means It May Never Overtake US Economy, Forecast Shows, Bloomberg News, September 5, 2023
  35. ↑ Russia’s population is in a historic decline as emigration, war and a plunging birth rate form a ‘perfect storm’, Fortune magazine, 2022