By BIP
The top 10 richest countries and autonomous regions per capita in the world are, from No 1 to No 10:
Qatar, Luxembourg, Macau, Singapore, Brunei, Kuwait, Ireland, Norway, United Arab Emirates, and San Marino.
All of them have no major armies that can withstand an invasion, no nuclear weapons, no ICBMs, and no empire-building ambition.
Their common focus is their economy.
They also understand that warmongering and economic progress are anathema to each other. If economic progress leads to empire-building, sooner or later empire-building leads to economic catastrophe and bankruptcy; said woes are usually the upshot of foreign entanglements and unholy alliances that lead to unsustainable expansions and wars.
However, in the absence of such imperialistic formula, the opposite usually takes place.
When World War 2 caused the irrevocable dissolution of the Japanese and German Empires, the then emerging American hegemon quickly shackled these defeated countries with a trammel that paralyzed (and eliminated) their military machines which had facilitated their expansions. The happy result was that Japan became the economic power of Asia, and Germany that of Europe.
Today these two countries have more robust economies than the US. Both are major centers of technological achievements, years ahead of their American jailer.
Even China managed to surpass the US by becoming the No 1 economy in the world. That’s because China is not (yet?) building an Empire. Its focus is on profit, not war.
Therefore, if a country wants to become financially successful, it must forsake, among other things, dreams of military conquests and entanglements. In other words, they need to mind their own “business.”
BIP WORLDVIEW 