Reject the marginal gains. Change the balance of power.

Observers regularly predict the U.S. dollar’s collapse as the global reserve currency. In reality, history shows that currency dominance is one of the most enduring forms of hegemony.

American social capital is concentrated at the top. The result is gerontocracy and a generational succession failure.

India’s recent TikTok ban is just one part of its digital sovereignty plan. Like the U.S. and China, it is converging on a strategy that uses markets to create national champions.

The U.S. pandemic response was undermined by buck-passing and bad judgment at every turn. Tech giants outperformed it thanks to lessons from the past and better incentives for the future.

Facebook’s global payment system, Libra, would usurp the role of the dollar, but it doesn’t have the hegemonic military, historical moment, or political utility to make that viable.