Economics topic of latest ARNSF

The CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center hosted an Arter-Rowland National Security Forum luncheon event on June 13, 2024, at the at the Carriage Club in Kansas City. The event featured a presentation entitled “The Economic Impact of Global Conflict.”

Simons Center Director Bob Ulin welcomed the ARNSF members and their guests. After lunch, he introduced the guest speaker Dr. Chris Kuehl, one of the founders and managing partners of Armada Corporate Intelligence in Lawrence, Kansas.

(Top photo and above) Dr. Chris Kuehl, one of the founders and managing partners of Armada Corporate Intelligence in Lawrence, Kansas, provides a presentation entitled “The Economic Impact of Global Conflict” during the Arter-Rowland National Security Forum luncheon event on June 13, 2024, at the Carriage Club in Kansas City.

With a good dose of humor and not a little sarcasm during his presentation, Kuehl discussed recent developments around the world, beginning with the U.S. gross domestic product, and continuing with Chinese deflation and its potential impact on global efforts to re-shore manufacturing and production. He listed “global hot spots” such as Ukraine, Taiwan, the South China Sea, North Korea, and Gaza which are all areas of concern. Aside from these developments, Kuehl maintains the key issues for 2024 include concern over interest rates, the shift that is underway to favor domestic versus overseas trade relations and how “friendshoring” may not be realistic despite the political blather during an election year in the U.S. Last, Kuehl brought up the global trend towards populist leaders around the world – in Europe and the U.S., and even Asia to an extent.

An additional interesting point Kuehl focused on was what he coined the “great wealth transfer.” He described how the baby boomer generation has accumulated great wealth – more than 1,000 billionaires over age 70 have a net worth of $5.4 trillion, allowing them to collectively control 72% of wealth in the U.S. Additionally, more billionaires were created with inherited wealth in 2023 than through any source of entrepreneurial activity. Governments have taken note and have either put in place or are considering inheritance taxes, which are understandably not popular with people who resent having their money taxed twice – once when earned and again when passed on as an inheritance. Because of this resentment to taxes, boomers may likely begin to spend that wealth versus seeing it dissolve in taxation which could trigger increases in inflation.

Kuehl also highlighted that because of the interconnected nature of the global market and the difficulty for many countries to maintain supply chains and access to energy resources, many of the world’s economies may be heading in a concerning direction towards recession. That said, he did mention the U.S. flexibility in oil production because of dynamic production in oil extraction processes.

Kuehl serves as Armada’s chief economist working with a wide variety of private clients and professional associations over the last 21 years. He serves as the chief economist for several national business associations. He is also the economic analyst for the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association and writes their bi-monthly publication, Fabrinomics, which details the impact of economic trends on manufacturers.

Kuehl is one of the chief editors for the “Armada Flagship Brief,” a subscription-based report emailed to several thousand business executives three times a week. As a popular keynote speaker, he makes approximately 100 presentations each year to business and industry associations in the U.S. and overseas.

Keuhl has a doctorate in political economics and advanced degrees in Soviet studies and Asian studies and was a professor of international economics and finance for more than 15 years prior to starting Armada.

After the presentation and a question and answer period, Ulin presented Kuehl with a new CGSC Foundation/Simons Center coffee mug and coin in appreciation for his time with the Forum. Ulin closed out the luncheon with a short brief about the schedule for future gatherings of the Forum.

For more photos see the CGSC Foundation Flickr album

The Arter-Rowland National Security Forum (ARNSF) is led by the CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center and is an exclusive professional information sharing and networking forum for those interested in keeping abreast of relevant information about national security issues.

Members of the Forum and their guests meet periodically at guest speaker events in downtown Kansas City. National and regional guest speakers representing all elements of national power (Diplomatic, Informational, Military and Economic) highlight the meetings. The Forum is nonpartisan, but elected government officials may present from time to time.

The Forum is named after Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Robert Arter, Founding Chairman of the CGSC Foundation, and Mr. Landon Rowland, the Foundation’s first major donor who was well-known in Kansas City for his keen interest in national security issues and his leadership in business and philanthropy.

ARNSF events are only open to ARNSF members and their guests. If you are not a member but are interested in joining, contact Bob Ulin at rulin@cgscf.org or visit the Forum page on the Simons Center website for more information.

The Arter-Rowland National Security Forum is an exclusive professional information sharing
and networking forum exclusively for select invitees of the CGSC Foundation and its Simons Center.