From Land Deals to Platform Power: America’s Expansion Playbook
The whole “Trump wants to buy Greenland” thing reminded me of the U.S. expansion story, how the country often grew by acquiring land through something that looks a lot like M&A. From the founding of the country to World War II, over about 170 years, the U.S. kept expanding its territory. Roughly 40% of that expansion came through purchases or treaties, and only rarely through direct conquest. If you look at it purely in terms of return on investment, the U.S. government might be the best M&A fund on the planet, easily beating Wall Street.
