Collapse of Globalization I

The collapse of globalization is happening right now,

and IT WILL AFFECT your business and everyone’s prosperity!

This is Part One of a discussion based upon the book I recommend you read or listen to immediately.

“The End of the World is Just the Beginning” by world-renowned geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan

What is a geopolitical strategist? A fancy way of saying he helps people, governments, and corporations understand how the world works.

As I exited the military, I intended to develop an international trade organization doing business with China. So, I earned a degree in Government and International Studies focused on China from the world's number one International MBA school – the University of South Carolina. That dream died when the government of China killed the protestors of Tiananmen Square in 1989 and it was no longer possible to finish my studies in China. But I never lost my interest in international relations and the global development of trade.

So, when I say we all need to read or listen to this book ASAP so that we can include the information in our long-term strategic plans, especially if a startup looking to scale worldwide over the next 10 to 20 years or corporations planning the assurance of its survival into the next generation.

Go to Audible now and download it here!!!

This is particular to our Faith Driven Entrepreneur Movement's long-term strategy and that we understand how the world will be changing is going to direct the needs which our Movement will need to direct its resources to both serve those in desperate need and help those who have not yet had the opportunity to scale their businesses but will as the world powers and focus shift.

As a matter of fact, Zeihan’s perspective has already shown its face in the rise of global hunger brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and Africa, where hundreds of millions of people are in danger of dying this winter.?This book warns that this is not a one-time action but will escalate to other parts of the world.

Below, I summarize my thoughts so you can get a jest before reading or listening for yourself, but know that the collapse of globalization is already happening.

The world in 1950 was the beginning of globalization, and it has created the best world the history of man has ever experienced, but it is now in decline. It will never be the same in our lifetime and potentially ever again.

Instead of cheap, better, and faster that we are used to today, we’re rapidly transitioning into a world that will be pricier, crappy, and slower. Because the world as we have known it since WWII is breaking apart.

What we, our children, parents, and grandchildren assume as the normal, good, and right way of living that we have experienced over the past seven decades is a historical blip. Especially the period between 1980 and 2020 which has been a unique, isolated, and blessed moment in time. This blip is coming to an end, according to Zeihan’s research and opinion.

“And that isn’t even the bad news.”

Since 1945 the world has been the best it has ever been and the best it will ever be, which is a poetic way of saying this era, this world of ours as we know it today, is doomed. The 2020s will see a collapse of consumption, production and investment, and trade almost everywhere as globalization shatters into pieces.

The purpose of this book, and why I recommend all my students read it, is that Zeihan lays out what this transition looks like and what we can and will have to do to live through it. How the things we know and understand about food, money, fuel, mobility, and everything will change, adapt, grow, reshuffle, fall apart, and also create new opportunities even out of desperation.??

Surprisingly or not, the United States and a few other places in the world will largely escape the carnage to come – not despite the global churn and degradation, but really because of it.??

Zeihan teaches us about the order-of-things today, such as how the United States economically disadvantages itself by purchasing a global alliance's loyalty. This is why the USD value has fallen by 90% during the same period post-WWII.

This is also what enabled globalization and why it would not exist if not for the United States.

All we have to do is imagine what the world would look like if the US had never entered World War II, if the Japanese had not made the decision to bomb Pearl Harbor, opening the door to globalization. This action led to the United States’ new role of taking care of the rest of the world and how the past several decades have seen America sacrifice its own well-being for everything.

Zeihan sees that this is all coming to an end.

Zeihan’s book is a huge warning, but it also shows us, a few countries of the world, the opportunity to prepare for and make our long term strategic plans to take advantage of the situation accordingly.

Yes, it can be frightening because the US is just like a huge oil tanker that takes dozens of miles to turn, but the warning is clear – the comfortable, plentiful, 24/7 availability we experience today is ending.?

The question is how soon, and Zeihan says, “maybe pretty quickly.” The key point is that globalization is ending, and here are the things we need to think about to get ready.

If you have read any of my posts, you know I love history, for without history, we do not know what to avoid nor how to deal with today and tomorrow based on experience. Zeihan provides us with a proper overview of how the world developed over these seven decades and how it all works within a globalized framework.

Zeihan pulls no punches – all of humanity’s lives will change, and not in very good ways.?Below are some of the poignant arguments to consider (bold for emphasis is my inflection).

“The 2020s are not the first time the United States has gone through a complete restructuring of its political system. This is round seven for those of you with minds of historical bents. Americans survived and thrived before because their geography is insulated from, while their demographic profile is starkly younger than, the bulk of the world. They will survive and thrive now and into the future for similar reasons. America’s strengths allow her debates to be petty, while those debates barely affect her strengths.??

Americans survived and thrived before because their geography is insulated from, while their demographic profile is starkly younger than, the bulk of the world.?

(Americans) will barely notice that elsewhere the world is ending!!!

Access to the inputs—financial and material and labor—that define the modern world will cease existing in sufficient quantity to make modernity possible.?

The last seventy-five years will be remembered as a Golden Age, which didn’t last nearly long enough in comparative history.

The real focus is to map out what everything looks like on the other side of this change in condition. What are the new parameters of the possible? In a world deglobalized, what are the new Geographies of Success? What comes next? After all, the end of the world really is just the beginning. So, it’s best if we start there. At the beginning.??

The American story is the story of the perfect Geography of Success. That geography determines not only American power, but also America’s role in the world.

THE UNITED STATES IS THE MOST POWERFUL RIVER POWER AND LAND POWER IN HISTORY.?

Without the Americans riding herd on everyone, it is only a matter of time before something in East Asia or the Middle East or the Russian periphery (like, I don’t know, say, a war) breaks the global system beyond repair . . . assuming that the Americans don’t do it themselves.?

No matter how you crunch the numbers, China in 2022 is the fastest-aging society in human history. The population growth story is over in China since China’s birth rate slipped below replacement levels in the 1990s.?…A full replacement birth rate is 2.1 children per woman. China’s rate is at most 1.3, among the lowest of any people throughout human history.

For the rest of the world, it will never get better than it was in the 2010s. Never.?

The United States is one of the world’s four settler states, which is a pseudo-technical term indicating that most Americans can trace their lineage to folks who aren’t from what is currently American territory.?…As a settler state, the United States tends to be far more confident in its political identity and friendly to immigration than other countries. The point is that the United States is one of only a few countries that even publicly publish data on how many of its citizens were born in another country. …with the exception of the indigenous population, no Americans are actually from America, and even the indigenous migrated here from somewhere else.

The dominant ethnic group in Mexico originates from Spain, while the dominant “ethnic” group in the United States is white Caucasian. …Mexicans of Spanish descent somewhat look down on Mexicans of indigenous descent and feel more or less the same way about Central American migrants as Americans do. Once Mexicans migrate to the United States, they assimilate quickly. It’s fairly common for second-generation Mexican-Americans—and nearly reflexive for fourth-generation Mexican-Americans—to define themselves as white.?

Take this concept of utter availability, apply it to everything, and you now have a glimmer of the absolute connectivity underpinning the modern, globalized economy. The ingredients of today’s industrial and consumer goods are only available because they can be moved from halfway around the world at low costs, high speeds, and in perfect security.??

This next part is the crux of the whole reasoning.

"The world’s supply of grievances is inexhaustible. For the most part, those grievances have not been acted upon for seventy-five years. . . . but only because the Americans changed the rules of the game.

Regardless of what goes wrong, long-haul transport is an instant casualty because long-haul transport doesn’t simply require absolute peace in this or that region; it requires absolute peace in all regions. Such long-haul disruption describes three-quarters of all energy, manufacturing, and agriculture shipments.?

After all, should containerized shipping break down, much of the world will be economically decimated by the collapse in manufacturing. But if bulk shipping—which transports food and fuel—break down, many of the world’s people will starve. Alone. In the dark.

…keep in mind that most countries lack long-arm navies. …First and most obvious are the pirates. Second and less obvious are the privateers, in essence pirates sponsored by an actual country to harass their competitors, and who have been granted rights to seek succor, fuel, and crew (and sell their *ahem* booty) in allied ports. …The third security concern isn’t likely to be constrained to the no-man’s-lands: state piracy.

Now add in missiles, drones, and missiles fired from drones. A return to the days of militarized merchant marines is not far off.?… imagine what happens when the Koreans or Israelis or French start selling idiot-proof anti-ship weaponry designed to be mounted on bulkers operated by India or Saudi Arabia or Egypt.?

By the time you read this, the world will have a fascinating, horrific case study of true financial disintegration. Nor is Russia done. Beset with a population aging into decrepitude and a system that has given up educating the next generation, Russia’s credit collapse is but one of a phalanx of factors capable of ending the Russian state. The question isn’t will the Russians go out swinging—Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a testament to that—but who else will they swing at??

There is a difference—a big difference—between a rising price of access and an absolute lack of access. The first leads to an industrial hollowing out. The second leads to outright deindustrialization.

Should something—should anything—happen to those imported food flows, civilizational collapse into anarchy complete with a population “correction” isn’t simply a distinct possibility, it is the most likely outcome. After all, a government that cannot feed its population is a government that falls."

This is the end of Part One.

Did you know that entrepreneurs, more than governments, non-profits, NGOs, and even more than churches, Shape Culture?

My fellow entrepreneurs, I am here to let you know that we are an image bearer of the Original Entrepreneur, God.?From the very beginning, He created us to share in His entrepreneurial spirit with purpose, passion, and pursuit.?He gives us ideas, dreams, and ventures to reflect His image and bring about His glory.

This empowering truth allows everyone to move forward confidently as we step out in faith into business ventures of all kinds to which God has drawn us as entrepreneurs.?

But entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey! This is why we have created the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Movement to include the Faith Driven Investor. We are a community of sharing and learning, resources, and support so that we, as business owners in our local communities, can help shape our culture.

As you have learned in Part One of this paper, globalization is at its deathbed, and it is going to take leaders in their local communities to care for and prepare for the future of tighter, more localized economies. We will not be able to depend on our governments, we should actually be weary of those governments that citizens do not control. A framework built on faith in the original creator and driven by citizen entrepreneurs is one we believe will enable communities to sustain themselves and even prosper as global economies falter.

Join us in the Movement today!

Gordon

PS - You may have noticed that our newsletter has had an upgrade in naming.

I wanted to let you all know that I have gone?On Mission?with the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Movement through my non-profit, Gordon Jones' Mission and Ministries at?FaithDrivenMovement.org.

My family is committing my time to serve our mission as Christians in this area of entrepreneurship that both Jennifer and I have built our businesses. Just like any MIssionary, we are looking for?sponsors to support our family while we serve in these programs that we provide to entrepreneurs for FREE as best we can.

So, we need your help if you are so inclined.

All contributions are tax-deductible!

Did you know that entrepreneurs, more than governments, non-profits, NGOs, and even more than churches, Shape Culture?

My fellow entrepreneurs, I am here to let you know that we are an image bearer of the Original Entrepreneur, God. From the very beginning, He created us to share in His entrepreneurial spirit with purpose, passion, and pursuit. He gives us ideas, dreams, and ventures to reflect His image and bring about His glory.

This empowering truth allows everyone to move forward confidently as we step out in faith into business ventures of all kinds, to which God has drawn us as entrepreneurs. Especially in the chaos of globalization, we have discussed over the past two days.

But entrepreneurship can be a lonely journey!

This is why we have created the Faith Driven Entrepreneur Movement and the Faith Driven Investor. We are a community of sharing and learning, resources, and support so that we, as business owners in our local communities, can help shape our culture.

As you have learned in this article, globalization is at its deathbed. It will take leaders in their local communities to care for and prepare for the future of tighter, more localized economies. We will not be able to depend on our governments, we should actually be weary of those governments that citizens do not control. A framework built on faith in the original creator and driven by citizen entrepreneurs is one we believe will enable communities to sustain themselves and even prosper as global economies falter.

Join us in the Movement today!

Please let me know if you have any questions after reviewing the brief on the?website. Please share this message with your network, as we may find our partners through you.

Gordon

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