That's a great alternative take. I was seeing it as a conflict primarily because the world does not provide us with an infinite supply of resources or human ca

That's a great alternative take. I was seeing it as a conflict primarily because the world does not provide us with an infinite supply of resources or human capital. This pumping can therefore only work to the extent that it can generate some medium-long term real ROI. Otherwise you get an eventual deflationary collapse when waves of debt defaults occur because nothing anywhere is generating a return sufficient to maintain payments on your also-inflating asset prices. (See also: house prices vs. median income in major cities.) The conflict, therefore, is being fought by major powers via their ability to generate real ROI. It's a game of chicken. The loser is the one who deflates first and gets purchased by the winners. Cooperative behavior is not mutually exclusive with this hypothesis. It's in the best interest of individuals within all of these major super-states to hedge by investing in the others. Whether or not this overcomes the game of chicken aspect and leads to a win/win/win outcome depends on whether we can all -- collectively -- scale and grow or whether limits to growth are reached.