How did the U.S. rise to a global superpower in only 250 years but counties that have been around for 1000s of years are still under-developed?

Question

The U.S. was a developing country for *maybe* only 100-150 years. After that, the U.S. became arguably the largest economic, military, academic, manufacturing powerhouse the world has ever seen.

Yet, countries that have been around since ancient times are still struggling to even feed or house their population.

How is that possible?

In: 17182

Answer 1

If you want a deeper dive, go to your local library and check out The Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan. It’s a few years old now but pretty concisely answers this question, with lots of data and examples to back it up. It’s pretty astonishing how much of an advantage the U.S. has from a purely economic standpoint.