[throwawaygh]

> Harvard's endowment is like 3 times it's budget.

That's like comparing GDP to net worth. It's not completely useless, but caveat emptor when comparing a first derivative to a zeroth derivative.

But yeah. The Spanish Military a strange example because a) it really depends on the community and b) we're talking about different types of power.

In terms of soft/cultural power, the Spanish Army might well be more influential than Harvard in Spain. But, again, only in a weird apples-and-oranges way.

I think maybe parent might have meant in terms of hard power. In a complete vacuum, the Spanish Army could probably topple the statue of John Harvard. But, again, it's completely unclear to me why that would be a useful/interesting/anything-other-than-amusing comparison.

The example I used in another thread, which I think actually works: In Utah, BYU is almost certainly more prestigious and powerful than Harvard.