There has never been a successful empire built without significant state lead strategy. The British Empire was built upon working with merchants and industry and provision of a military force that dominated the planets seas enabling capture and control of the planets resources and markets. The US is the successor to this empire and is equally reliant upon the use of force and threat of use of force along with legacy control of global protocols and institutions to maintain its extraordinary privilege. The delusion that US wealth is based soley upon private enterprise and free markets is a delusional joke. The US has for decades been one of the most protectionist and for many decades has used military force to acquire and maintain its global monetary and resource hegemony. Now China is positioning to threaten that dominance the US is struggling to come up with a workable response.