The article discusses the 100 years ago, when President Calvin Coolidge stated that business was the chief business of the American people. The parallels between the 1920s and the 2020s are clear, with soaring equity markets, transformative technologies reshaping productivity, and underlying structural vulnerabilities. For the last 25 years, American business and Chinese manufacturing have been the backbone of global growth. However, global conflict is affecting supply chains, disrupting shipping lanes, raising insurance costs for maritime transport, and disrupting supply chains through India, Vietnam and Mexico. The article argues that while trade and commerce often depends on long-standing relationships and understanding that allows business to keep moving when formal mechanisms are unreliable or under strain, even in wartime.