Imperialism and Puerto Rico

In: Monthly review: an independent socialist magazine, Band 30, Heft 4, S. 18-28

Abstract

Industrialization in Puerto Rico, begun in the 1940s, has been dominated by United States monopoly capitalism-in a word, imperialism. Most industries promoted by the national program of industrialization are owned & controlled by United States corporations. These mainland firm operations, exempt from Puerto Rican taxes & nearly exempt from federal income taxes, have caused Puerto Rico to be known as 'Profit Island, USA.' The impact of US-financed capitalist industrialization on four elements of the Puerto Rican political economy is examined: (1) development is predicated on the continued growth of exports, lacking any internal dynamic; (2) agricultural technology & production have declined sharply due to unrestricted United States imports, & the island economy contributes an increasingly diminshed share of its own food needs; (3) unemployment has increased as the number of rural migrants has exceeded the capacity of urban industrialization, & the standard of living of the masses has decreased; (4) the state fails to raise sufficient revenue because more than 50% of the Puerto Rican tax base is tax exempt. Independence together with transition to a socialist economy is seen as the only permanent solution to these problems. C. Moe.