[kristianc]

On the other hand, the era after WWI saw the birth of the modern welfare state in Europe (first in the U.K., and then gradually across the rest of Europe), and WWII saw the United States establish itself as the pre-eminent global power, a position it hasn’t relinquished since.

When it comes to global scale events, we have a tendency to overestimate the short term consequences and overestimate the long term.

[jeffrallen]

> the United States establish itself as the pre-eminent global power, a position it hasn’t relinquished since.

Well to be fair, it is working as hard as possible at throwing away that position right now...

[kristianc]

Military spending isn’t every measure of the power of a country, but the US does spend as much on its military as the next ten countries combined..