Publisher's Synopsis
2019 has been the last great year for the global economy. For generations, everything has been getting faster, better and cheaper. Finally, we got to the point where almost anything you could want could be shipped to your home within days or hours of deciding you wanted it. America made that happen, but has now lost interest in keeping it going. Supply chains that span the globe are only possible with the protection of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. dollar underpins internationalized energy and financial markets. Complex and innovative industries were created to satisfy U.S. consumers. U.S. security policy forced warring nations to lay down their arms. Billions of people have been fed and educated as the U.S.-led trading system spread around the world. All of this was artificial. All of this was temporary. All of this is coming to an end. In this book, geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan maps out the next world: a world in which countries or regions will have no choice but to manufacture their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with shrinking and aging populations. The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. Which means that everything about our interconnected world - from how we make products to how we grow food to how we keep the lights on to how we transport things to how we pay for it all - is about to change. In usual Zeihan style, instead of screaming fire in the geo-economic theater, he narrates the accumulation of matches, gasoline and dynamite in the hands of the ignorant audience, suggesting that we might want to call the fire department. An end of the world. A world beginning. Zeihan takes readers on an enlightening (and slightly terrifying) journey replete with foresight, wit and his trademark irreverence.
