The President does not have the power to go to war. He must ask congress for permission to go to war and it must be voted on by the House and Senate. Relations with N. Korea are better now than before. Russia and Iran not so much. China, Iran, N. Korea have no force projection so any military conflict with them would be localized. So unless someone hits the big red button and nukes start flying, I wouldn't worry. Also just a reminder that Obama dropped a bomb every 8 minutes during his election. Were you worried about WW3 then?


How would any of the financial markets hold up? WW2 almost financially broke America. Japan was confiscating and melting peoples steel pots to make weapons. Europe was physically destroyed so they had no real economies. Russia was sending conscripts into combat unarmed then shooting them if they retreated. People were more worried about getting food, water, and shelter than maintaining their wealth. Gold prices maintained their value during the war so most likely precious metals would behave the same way during a massive world war. But you can't eat or drink your gold so it wont do you much good if your starving. Crypto only has value because people are willing to exchange it for goods and services. So ask yourself, would people accept it during a massive crisis? Would people even be able to transfer it during a crisis? Would the public ledgers stay intact? If your side lost what would happen to any wealth you had? Remember what the Nazis did with all the Jewish gold the confiscated?

Now, all scary and political stuff aside, the key to avoiding a war is for countries to become financially dependent on one another. If China declares war with the US, the US retaliates and cancels their government bonds, killing trillions of $$ worth of wealth. China has to import massive amount of resources to manufacture a lot of the stuff they sell back to the US. Without the US buying fake dog poo, their goes more of their GDP. America needs Rare earth elements from around the world to build high tech fighter jets and other high tech items. Without access to those elements, high tech manufacturing is doomed. The point is we are more stable when countries are trading with each other and all parties have a lot to loose in a conflict.

Now, some crack-pot with nukes (i.e N. Korea and Iran) that have routinely threatened to blow up and wipe other countries off the map are the ones you really have to worry about.  Luckily N. Korea has committed to disarming their nukes (who knows if that will actually happen). I could go on but its really pointless. I'll just leave my 2 cents worth. I firmly believe cooler heads will prevail and that the people in power are not really willing to risk their lives and more importantly (to them) their vast fortunes. What they say is just political posturing to maintain their position of power and wealth over the people they are in charge of.