I'm also somewhere between intrigued by and reluctantly sympathetic with a discourse further right than me...
>Do you think that the reason U.S. per capita income is four tiems
>Mexico's, eight times the Philippines, and 22 times Haiti's has
>anything to do with imperialism (or empire or Empire), some
>political hierarchy of domination? Or is there no such thing as
>imperialism?
>
>Doug
Mexico? No. Mexico has made its own history (albeit not under circumstances entirely of its own choosing). Haiti and the Philippines? I think the U.S. helped entrench both Marcos and Papa Doc, and that they were worse-than-usual kleptocrats, and did substantial damage.
But I take your question to be, "Is the U.S. rich because it buys the products of Haiti,the Philippines, and Mexico for less than their labor values?" And I can't see any way to get that number up above 2% of the current U.S. standard of living at most...
Brad DeLong