America's Trojan Horse

Over the past 200 years, America has grown into a world power, proving itself to be quite capable in the world market. The United States has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the world, with a per capita GDP of $46,000. In only 220 short years, America has become one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. What was it exactly that caused the original 13 colonies to evolve into the powerhouse that America is today? Many would point to America’s ironclad Constitution, or civil rights and freedom of speech as the driving factor in the nation’s success. These are aspects of American culture that undoubtedly shaped and influenced the United States during its expansion; they also are the very things that define the country today. The Constitution and freedoms found in America were not the catalyst for the rapid expansion that the United States experienced. The main factor in America’s hasty economic, social, and political development was greed.

The United States thrives on capitalism; this idea promotes the expansion of the economy. In the early and mid 1800’s America expanded westward, claiming manifest destiny, to utilize the new resources to make money. In the late 1800’s America expanded their boarders through imperialism by invading neighboring islands and countries such as Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. By the mid 1900’s, the US was expanding its influence into East Asia and the Middle East. Even today, America is trying to expand its borders deeper into the Middle East. Over America’s short history, the methods of expansion have become increasingly ruthless and cut throat. Initially, settlers moved west into uncharted territory, expelling the Native Americans from their homes. Then the US began practicing imperialism, forcefully taking control over countries like the Philippines and Hawaii. In the mid 1900’s however, America invented a new way to spread their borders without force. This new manipulation of foreign countries is purely economic and involved no invasion or hostile takeover. Despite the fact that military action is averted, the victim country is often stripped of its natural resources and turned into a barren wasteland for profit by the US. The economic manipulation of countries for personal profit has been going on for over 50 years; it can even be seen today in America’s conflict in the Middle East.

The world has changed drastically in the past 100 years. A century ago, war was glorified, and it was not at all difficult to entice citizens or other countries to go to war. Since then however, in the wake of Vietnam and other bloody wars, the world has come to detest war and discourage it in every conceivable way. This made the old method of manipulating and taking over countries by force impossible; other countries and even citizens would not approve of military action easily. This is why America developed a way to continue expansion and imperialism without sending in troops. The US government uses public companies and people that call themselves “economic hit men” to obtain control over underdeveloped countries.

The process of gaining control of an underdeveloped country economically is actually relatively simple. An economic hit man (EHM) is sent in to first assess the economic condition of the country and send reports back to his employer. Back at the headquarters, the economists and engineers then decide what that country desperately needs and send them a proposal, such as a power plant or utilities. The EHM then comes up with economic projections for the country if the proposal is accepted; the projections are almost always conveniently positive because the EHM is employed by the company. Then, in order to pay for the project, the country must take out huge loans from the World Bank or USAID. It is in this way that America is giving money to underdeveloped countries, who are in turn giving the money back to the US economy. This means that although America calls the money given to the countries “foreign aid”, it is never actually leaving the United States. The process greatly benefits the US economy; the underdeveloped country however, then owes interest that it can inevitably not pay back. The countries are buried in debt to the US and are forced to acquiesce to political pressure from America. Essentially, that country belongs to the US; that country can be manipulated to sell us oil at a cheap price, give us votes in the UN, or even have their natural resources exploited. This greedy and selfish practice almost always results in the deterioration of that particular country. The public works projects often result in short term economic growth in that country followed by an economic depression in the long term. The gap between lower and upper class widens, wages go down, and although their economy initially booms, in the long run it inevitably fails. The practice of imperialism is destroying entire countries’ economies for the slight economic benefit of America.

Initially the American imperialist ploy seems like an easy force to stop. It appears that all a country would have to do is to refuse the American “aid” and go about their lives. Unfortunately, those in power are all too easily corrupted. The leaders of these impoverished nations are all too eager to accept America’s loans because it promises to make them quite wealthy. If the mere economic boost is not enough to entice them into complying with American corporations, the US will often resort to bribery and extortion to get what they want. It is possible however, that a certain leader would prove to be impervious to all of America’s ploys. In this case the leader usually is involved in a convenient “accident” orchestrated by the CIA. Then a more easily manipulated leader is put into power by a suspiciously generous American government trying to “restore peace” to the region. The new leader is one that the US can corrupt and force their economic models and industrialization projects upon.

This vicious cycle of devouring underdeveloped countries has been going on for over a century. Countless examples of this can be found in the Middle East and East Asia as well as much of Middle and South America. Places such as Panama, Cuba, The Philippians, Korea, Vietnam, and just recently Iraq and Afghanistan are just a few of the most crucial targets of American Greed over the past 100 years. The US practice of constant expansion for the benefit of the American economy is one that is difficult to amend. As long as the US remains a capitalistic economy, the government and large corporations will continue to take advantage of underdeveloped countries. It is nearly impossible to end greed and corruption in a capitalistic economy due to the fact that this type of economy actually encourages doing whatever it takes to get ahead. So it seems that this horribly self serving practice will continue until America’s greed is satisfied or America falls from grace.