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In the debate over whether or not China will soon rise to challenge the United States as the world’s hegemon, it is often assumed that states with large aggregate economies are necessarily more militarily powerful ones.

This stems from decades-old methods that remain popular among scholars and pundits who write on international relations and foreign policy.

Given covid, the mutation, lockdowns, BLM protests and riots, the storming of the Capitol, impeachment and the first Biden stimulus bill on the horizon, it’s easy to miss headlines from the Federal Reserve. On Monday, the Fed released Reserve Bank income and expense data transfers to the Treasury for 2020. This is the central bank’s preliminary income statement and remittance figures for 2020, the headline number starting at: