A column on the Chinese platform Zhihu tries to explain why the United States has held superpower status since World War II through a “four pillars” framework. The author, Liu Xiaomao, argues that the military, finance, technology and talent recruitment are not separate but a mutually reinforcing structure: the military provides security guarantees, the dollar provides a funding cycle, technology provides industrial advantage, and the talent mechanism keeps the first three pillars renewing themselves. The framework is not new, but it links scattered threads from common discussion into a single causal chain, and it is worth re-examining in the context of American society and politics.
Military power as the backstop
The article puts hard military power first because it forms the “backstop” for the other pillars. US military spending has long ranked first in the world, and the country has a global network of overseas bases and the ability to project power across oceans, giving it the means to intervene quickly in regional situations. The author stresses that military force matters beyond the battlefield: it protects the homeland, safeguards overseas interests and shipping lanes, and provides a security expectation for dollar credibility and overseas investment. In other words, military strength is treated here as a public good that lets capital and technology move freely around the world.
The dollar shifts domestic risk outward
The second pillar is the dollar-dominated financial system. The article traces the Bretton Woods system and notes that even after the gold standard collapsed, the dollar remained central to international trade, energy settlement and cross-border investment. The US adjusts global capital flows through the tightening and loosening of monetary policy and shifts domestic inflation and debt pressure outward; Wall Street, meanwhile, shapes the international financial order through ratings, rules and investment standards. The author argues that this financial advantage lets the US keep drawing global wealth dividends without relying entirely on the real economy, and then channel resources into the military and scientific research.
Technology and talent as the engine of the cycle
The third pillar is cutting-edge technology. The article cites the university system, research institutions, innovative companies and the talent recruitment mechanism, arguing that the US has long held the frontier in high-end chips, aerospace, artificial intelligence and biomedicine. Technological advantage brings high value-added profits and feeds back into the iteration of military equipment and the upgrading of the financial system, forming a positive loop of “technological lead — industrial monopoly — renewed strength.” The fourth pillar is talent: the inflow of global talent sustains the vitality of research and innovation and keeps the first three pillars from decaying through internal rigidity.
Where the explanation runs out
Linking the four into a cycle does explain the persistence of US advantage, but it also tends to mistake results for causes. The burden of military spending, the hollowing out of industry, the squeeze that financialization puts on the real economy, and intensifying competition for talent are all tensions the framework has not yet absorbed. The article offers a structural diagram, not a forecast. The question worth asking is: when one link in the cycle starts to loosen, what happens to the other three?
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