The United States became the world's largest economy in the early 20th century and though massive industrial growth and technical innovation it has held that lead for over 100 years.

The world superpowers that came before it was most notably colonial empires, with the France Britain and the Netherlands all extracting a vast majority of their wealth from foreign colonies that they used to mine natural resources or grow tea and spices to bring back home.

Incidentally, the United States was once one of these colonies, but it had a bit of a rebellious streak and claimed independence to go an to become a majorly powerful nation in its own right.

The nation was born with the memories of empire and what it meant to be a colony, so it ultimately walked a different path to prosperity. In this episode, part two of a serious on the economy of the United States we will look at America’s take on its own global empire.